

v 



v * 



* Q 



'3 



V 



4> 




^<3* -, Bill? * Qdv 




4 s ■ 



^ % %k 



2? o cjb 



t.0 



• % ■ <. v ^ 



V 5 ^ 



G 



0° °% ^> o° v^l c% ^ 0° _ ~ ^ 



Oft ' ail 




AC 

^ ^ # 





0, '<3fe 



. CI 



V 



4 



A c 



-Q, ^ * * ^ \v 



0 V ^ 1 * 0 ^ 



0^ V- 



,J> n V -P 



61 ^ -"^ 



|V „ V * 0 



o ^ 



AO 



-P\^ . f * 0 .. ' < C». 



THE STORY OF 
EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS 
OF THE WEST 



BY 

ROBERT E: ANDERSON, M.A., F.A.S. 

AUTHOR OF 
EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE EAST 




Venient annis saecula seris 
Quibus Oceanus vincula rerum 
Laxet, et ingens pateat tellus 
Tethys que novos detegat orbes. 

— Seneca. 



NEW YORK 
MCMXV 



.AS6 



Copyright, 1903, 191 5, 
By ). APPLETON AND COMPANY. 



All rights reserved 



Printed in the United States of America 

/ 

JAN 20 1916 

©CI.A418525 

4i*J , 



/ 



t PREFACE. 

Another volume in this series, "The Story of 
Extinct Civilizations of the East," traces the his- 
tory of the mighty empires which flourished in 
remote antiquity about the eastern shores of the 
Mediterranean and describes the cultures which 
the archaeological research of the last century has 
reconstructed from their monumental remains. 
The extinct civilizations of the West are of a dif- 
ferent order. The Aztec and Inca cultures which 
the Spanish discovered in the New World arose 
long after the ancient civilizations of the East 
had disappeared, and they were destroyed by the 
Spanish conquest at a comparatively early stage 
of development. With the political organization 
of the conquered tribes the Spaniards destroyed 
many of their most important monuments, leav- 
ing the materials for study scant and fragmen- 
tary. Archaeological knowledge of the Americas 
is therefore less advanced than that of the much 
more remote civilizations of the Near East, and 
it cannot compare in richness and variety of in- 
3 



4 



PREFACE. 



terest. It has, however, a much more intimate 
appeal to Americans as the foundation of the 
early history of our continent. 

Such facts concerning the civilization of the 
Aztecs and the Incas as are definitely established 
are given in this little book, together with a de- 
scription of the more important problems which 
still remain for solution. The story of the Span- 
ish discovery and conquest is retold in brief com- 
pass. The monumental works of Prescott cover 
the same field, but American archaeology has 
made large strides since Prescott's day and has 
brought us to a much closer acquaintance with the 
beginnings of American history. 



July, 1915. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

Introduction 9 

I. Pre-Columbian Discoveries of America . 19 

II. "Discovery of the World and of Man" . 36 

III. The Extinct Civilization of the Aztecs . 54 

IV. American Archeology 71 

V. Mexico before the Spanish Invasion . 88 

VI. Arrival of the Spaniards .... 106 

VII. Cortes and Montezuma .... 135 

VIII. Balboa and the Isthmus .... 164 

IX. Extinct Civilization of Peru . . . 172 

X. PlZARRO AND THE INCAS .... l86 



MAPS, ETC. 



PAGE 

Prehistoric Structure, Uxmal (Yucatan) . . Frontispiece 



Imaginary Continent, South of Africa and Asia . .12 
Remains of a Norse Church at Katortuk, Greenland . 21 
Map of Vinland ........ 24 

The Dighton Stone in the Taunton River, Massachusetts 27 
The Dighton Stone. Fig. 2 . . . . . .28 

Cipher Autograph of Columbus . . . . .46 

Chulpa or Stone Tomb of the Peruvians . . '87 

Quetzalcoatl ......... 93 

Ancient Bridge near Tezcuco . . . . . .100 

Teocalli, Aztec Temple for Human Sacrifices . . . 105 
Monolith Doorway. Near Lake Titicaca. Fig. I . . 173 
Image over the Doorway shown in Fig. 1. Near Lake 

Titicaca. Fig. 2 . . . . . .175 

The Quipu . . . . . . . . .180 

Gold Ornament (? Zodiac) from a Tomb at Cuzco . . 182 



EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF 
THE WEST 



INTRODUCTION 

Throughout all the periods of European his- 
tory, ancient or modern, no age has been more re- 
markable for events of first-rate importance than 
the latter half of the fifteenth century. The rise of 
the New Learning, the "discovery of the world 
and of man," the displacement of many outworn 
beliefs, these with other factors produced an 
awakening that startled kings and nations. Then 
felt they like Balboa, when 

with eagle eyes 
He stared at the Pacific, and all his men 
Looked at each other with a wild surmise 
Silent, upon a peak in Darien. 

It was at this historical juncture that the "middle 
ages" came to an end, and modern Europe had 
its begiiining. (See Chapter II.) 

Why was Europe so long in discovering the 
vast Continent which all the time lay beyond the 
Western Ocean? Simply because every skipper 
and every "Board of Admiralty" believed that this 
world on which we live and move is flat and level. 
They did not at all realize the fact that it is ball- 

9 



io EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

shaped ; and that when a ball is very large (say, as 
large as a balloon), then any small portion of the 
surface must appear flat and level to a fly or 
"mite" traveling in that vicinity. Homer believed 
that our world is a flat and level plain, with a 
great river, Oceanus, flowing round it ; and for 
many ages that seemed a very natural and suffi- 
cient theory. The Pythagoreans, it is true, argued 
that our earth must be spherical, but why ? Oh, 
said they, because in geometry the sphere is the 
"most perfect" of all solid figures. Aristotle, be- 
ing scientific, gave better reasons for believing 
that the earth is spherical or ball-shaped. He said 
the shadow of the earth is always round like the 
shadow of a ball ; and the shadow of the earth can 
be seen during any eclipse of the moon ; therefore, 
all who see that shadow on the moon's disk know, 
or ought to know, that the earth is ball-shaped. 
Another reason given by Aristotle is that the alti- 
tude of any star above the horizon changes when 
the observer travels north or south. For example, 
if at London a star appears to be 40 0 above the 
northern horizon, and at York the same star at 
the same instant appears 42^°, it is evident that 
2^4° is the difference (increase) of altitude at 
York compared with London. Such an observa- 
tion shows that the road from London to York is 
not over a flat, level plane, but over the curved 
surface of a sphere, the arc of a circle, in fact. 

Herodotus, the father of history, was a good 
geographer and an experienced traveler, yet his 
only conception of the world was as a flat, wide- 
extending surface. In Egypt he was told how- 
Pharaoh Necho had sent a crew of Phenicians to 
explore the coast of Africa by setting out from the 



INTRODUCTION 



II 



Red Sea, and how they sailed south till they had 
the sun on their right hand. ''Absurd!" says 
Herodotus, in his naive manner, "this story I can 
not believe." In Egypt, as in Greece or Europe 
generally, the sun rises on the left hand, and at 
noon casts a shadow pointing north ; whereas in 
South Africa the sun at noon casts a shadow 
pointing south, and sunrise is therefore on the 
right hand. The honest sailors had told the truth ; 
they had merely "crossed the line," without know- 
ing it. If Herodotus had known that the world 
was spherical or ball-shaped, he could easily have 
understood that by traveling due south the sun 
must at last appear at noon to the north instead 
of the south. A counterpart to the story of the 
Phenician sailors occurs in Pliny: he tells how 
some ambassadors came to the Roman Emperor 
Claudius from an island in the south of Asia, and 
when in Italy were much astonished to see the 
sun at noon to the south, casting shadows to the 
north. They also wondered, he says, to see the 
Great Bear and other groups of stars which had 
never been visible in their native land (Nat. Hist., 
vi, 22). 

That there were islands or even a continent in 
the Western Ocean was a tradition not infrequent 
in classical and medieval times, as we shall pres- 
ently see, but to place a continent in the Southern 
Ocean was a greater stretch of imagination. The 
great outstanding problem of the sources of the 
Nile probably suggested this Southern Continent 
to some. Ptolemy, the great Egyptian geogra- 
pher, even formed the conjecture that the South- 
ern Continent was joined to Africa by a broad 
isthmus, as indicated in certain maps. Such a 



12 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

connection of the two continents would at once 
dispose of the story that the Phenician sailors 
had "doubled the Cape." In several maps after 
the time of Columbus, Australia is extended west- 
ward in order to pass muster for the Southern 
Continent. 

It is with a Western Continent, however, that 
we are now mainly concerned. What lands were 



Imaginary Continent, south of Africa and Asia. [The cardi- 
nal points are shown by the four winds.] Beginning of the 
fifteenth century. The word Brumae=the winter solstices. 

imagined by the ancients in the far West under 
the setting sun ? The mighty ocean beyond Spain 
was to the Greeks and Latins a place of dread 
and mystery. 

"Stout was his heart and girt with triple brass," says the 
Roman poet, "who first hazarded his weak vessel on the 
pitiless ocean." 

Even the western parts of theMediterranean were 
shrunk from, according to the Odyssey, without 




INTRODUCTION 



13 



speaking of the horrors of the great ocean beyond. 
"Beyond Gades," i. e., scarcely outside of the Pil- 
lars of Hercules, the extreme limit of the ancient 
world, "no man," said Pindar, "however daring, 
could pass ; only a god might voyage those 
waters !" 

In spite of the dread which the ancient mariners 
felt for the great Western Ocean, their poets 
found it replete with charm and mystery. The 
imagination rested upon those golden sunsets, 
and the tales of marvel which, after long intervals, 
sea-borne sailors had told of distant lands in the 
West. The poets placed there the happy home 
destined for the souls of heroes. Thus (Odys. 
iv, 561) : 

No snow 

Is there, nor yet great storm nor any rain, 
But always ocean sendeth forth the breeze 
Of the shrill West, and bloweth cool on men. 

So far Homer. His contemporary, Hesiod, 
thus describes the Elysian Fields as islands under 
the setting sun : 

There on Earth's utmost limits Zeus assigned 
A life, a seat, distinct from human kind, 
Beside the deepening whirlpools of the Main, 
In those blest Isles where Saturn holds his reign, 
Apart from Heaven's immortals calm they share, 
A rest unsullied by the clouds of care: 
And yearly thrice with sweet luxuriance crown'd 
Springs the ripe harvest from the teeming Ground. 

The poet Pindar places in the same mysterious 
West "the castle of Chronos" (i. e., "Old Time"), 
"where o'er the Isles of the Blest ocean breezes 



14 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

blow, and flowers gleam with gold, some from 
the land on glistening trees, while others the water 
feeds ; and with bracelets of these they entwine 
their hands, and make crowns for their heads." 

Vesper, the star of evening, was called Hes- 
perus by the Greeks ; and hence the Hesperides, 
daughters of the Western Star, had the task of 
watching the golden apples planted by the god- 
dess Hera in the garden of the gods, on the other 
side of the river Oceanus. One of the labors of 
Hercules was to fetch three of those mystic apples 
for the king of Mycenae. The poet Euripides 
thus refers to the Gardens of the West, when the 
Chorus wish to fly "over the Adriatic wave" : 

Or to the famed Hesperian plains, 
Whose rich trees bloom with gold, 

To join the grief -attuned strains 
My winged progress hold; 

Beyond whose shores no passage gave 

The Ruler of the purple wave. 

Of all the lands imagined to lie in the Western 
Ocean by the Greeks, the most important was 
"Atlantis." Some have thought it may possibly 
have been a prehistoric discovery of America. 
In any case it has exercised the ingenuity of a 
good many modern scientists. The tale of At- 
lantis we owe to Plato himself, who perhaps 
learned it in Egypt, just as Herodotus picked up 
there the account of the circumnavigation of 
Africa by the Phenician mariners. 

"When Solon was in Egypt," says Plato, "he 
had talk with an aged priest of Sais who said, 
*You Greeks are all children : you know but of 
one deluge, whereas there have been many de- 



INTRODUCTION 



15 



structions of mankind both by flood and fire.' . . . 
In the distant Western Ocean lay a continent 
larger than Libya and Asia together." . . . 

In this Atlantis there had grown up a mighty state whose 
kings were descended from Poseidon and had extended 
their sway over many islands and over a portion of the 
great continent; even Libya up to the gates of Egypt, and 
Europe as far as Tyrrhenia, submitted to their sway. . . . 
Afterward came a day and night of great floods and earth- 
quakes; Atlantis disappeared, swallowed by the waves. 

Geologists and geographers have seriously 
tried to find evidence of Atlantis having existed 
in the Atlantic, whether as a portion of the Amer- 
ican continent, or as a huge island in the ocean 
which could have served as a stepping-stone be- 
tween the Western World and the Eastern. From 
a series of deep-sea soundings ordered by the 
British, American, and German Governments, it 
is now very well known that in the middle of the 
Atlantic basin there is a ridge, running north and 
south, whose depth is less than 1,000 fathoms, 
while the valleys east and west of it average 3,000 
fathoms. At the Azores the North Atlantic ridge 
becomes broader. The theory is that a part of the 
ridge-plateau was the Atlantis of Plato that "dis- 
appeared swallowed by the waves." (Nature, xv, 
158, 553, xxvii, 25 ; Science, June 29, 1883.) 

Buffon, the naturalist, with reference to fauna 
and flora, dated the separation of the new and 
old world "from the catastrophe of Atlantis" 
(Epoques, ix, 570) ; and Sir Charles Lyell con- 
fessed a temptation to "accept the theory of an 
Atlantis island in the northern Atlantic." (GeoL 
ogy, p. 141.) 



1 6 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



The following account "from an historian of 
the fourth century b. c." is another possible refer- 
ence to a portion of America — from a translation 
"delivered in English," 1576. 

Selenus told Midas that without this worlde there is a 
continent or percell of dry lande which in greatnesse (as 
hee reported) was unmeasureable; that it nourished and 
maintained, by the benifite of the greene meadowes and 
pasture plots, sundrye bigge and mighty beastes; that the 
men which inhabite the same climate exceede the stature 
of us twise, and yet the length of there life is not equale to 
ours. 

The historian Plutarch, in his Morals, gives an 
account of Ogygia, with an illusion f o a continent, 
possibly America : 

An island, Ogygia, lies in the arms of the Ocean, about 
five days' sail west from Britain. . . . The adjacent sea 
is termed the Saturnian, and the continent by which the 
great sea is circularly environed is distant from Ogygia 
about 5,000 stadia, but from the other islands not so far. 
. . . One of the men paid a visit to the great island, as 
they called Europe. From him the narrator learned many 
things about the state of men after death — the conclusion 
being that the souls of men arrive at the Moon, wherein lie 
the Elysian Fields of Homer. 

The Greek historian, Diodorus Siculus, has a 
similar account with curious details of an "island" 
which might very well have been part of a conti- 
nent. Columbus believed to the last that Cuba 
was a continent. 

In the ocean, at the distance of several days' sailing to 
the west, there lies an island watered by several navigable 
rivers. Its soil is fertile, hilly, and of great beauty. . . . 



INTRODUCTION 



17 



There are country houses handsomely constructed, with 
summer-houses and flower-beds. The hilly district is 
covered with dense woods and fruit-trees of every kind. 
The inhabitants spend much time in hunting and thus 
procure excellent food. They have naturally a good sup- 
ply of fish, their shores being washed by the ocean. . . . 
In a word this island seems a happy home for gods rather 
than for men (v. 19). 

Another Greek writer, Lucian, in one of his 
witty dialogues, refers to an island in the Atlantic, 
that lies eighty days' sail westward of the Pillars 
of Hercules — the extreme limit of the ancient 
world, as has already been seen. Readers of 
Henry Fielding and admirers of Squire Western 
will remember how in the London of the eight- 
eenth century the limits of Piccadilly westward 
was a tavern at Hyde Park corner called the Her- 
cules' Pillars, on the site of the future Apsley 
House.* 

Although neither Greek nor Roman navigators 
were likely to attempt a voyage into the ocean 
beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, yet a trading ves- 
sel from Carthage or Phenicia might easily have 
been driven by an easterly gale into, or even 
across, the Atlantic. Some involuntary discov- 
eries were no doubt due to this chance, and the 
reports brought to Europe were probably the 
germs of such tales as the poets invented about 
the fair regions of the West. In Celtic literature, 
moreover, "Avalon" was placed far under the 
setting sun beyond the ocean — Avalon or "Glas- 
Inis" being to the bards the Land of the Dead, 
marvelous and mysterious. 

* Tom Jones, xvi. chap. 2, 3, etc. 

2 



1 8 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



In English literature of the middle ages there 
is a remarkable passage relating to our present 
subject, which was written long before that rise 
of the New Learning mentioned at the beginning 
of this chapter. It is a statement made by Roger 
Bacon, the greatest of Oxonian scholars of the 
thirteenth century, who, long before the Renas- 
cence, did much to restore the study of science, 
especially in geography, chronology, and optics. 
In his Opus Majus, the elder Bacon wrote: 

More than the fourth part of the earth which we inhabit 
is still unknown to us. . . . It is evident therefore that 
between the extreme West and the confines of India, there 
must be a surface which comprises more than half the 
earth. 

Though Roger Bacon, to use his own words, 
died "unheard, forgotten, buried," our recent his- 
torians place his name first in the great roll of 
modern science. 

There now remains only one quotation to make 
from the ancients. We have been reserving it 
for two reasons — first, because it is a singularly 
happy anticipation of the discovery of the New 
World, so happy that it became a favorite stanza 
with the discoverer himself. This we learn from 
the life of the "Great Admiral," written by his 
son Ferdinand. 

Secondly, because it adorns our title-page and 
has been characterized as "a. lucky prophecy" — 
written in the first century a. d. The author, Sen- 
eca, was a dramatist as well as a philosopher, the 
lines occurring at the end of one of his choruses — 
Medea, 376. We may thus translate the pro- 
phetic stanza : 



PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES 1 9 



For at a distant date this ancient world 

Will westward stretch its bounds, and then disclose 

Beyond the Main a vast new Continent, 

With realms of wealth and might. 



CHAPTER I 
PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA 

I. Norse Discovery. — By glancing at a map of 
the north Atlantic, the reader will at once see 
that the natural approach from Europe to the 
Western Continent was by Iceland and Green- 
land — especially in those early days when ocean 
navigation was unknown. Iceland is nearer to 
Greenland than to Norway ; and Greenland is part 
of America. But in Iceland there were Celtic 
settlers in the early centuries ; and even King 
Arthur, according to the history of Geoffrey of 
Monmouth, sailed north to that "Ultima Thule." 
During- the ninth century a Christian community 
had been established there under certain Irish 
monks. This early civilization, however, was 
destined to become presently extinct. 

It was in a. d. 875, i. e., during the reign of 
Alfred the Great in England, that the Norse earl, 
Ingolf, led a colony to Iceland. More strenuous 
and savage than the Christian Celts whom they 
found there, the latter with their preaching monks 
soon sailed to the south, and left the Northmen 
masters of the island. The Norse colony under 
Ingolf was strongly reenforced by Norwegians 
who took refuge there to avoid the tyranny of 



20 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



their king, Harold, the Fair-haired. Ingolf built 
the town Ingolfshof, named after him. and also 
Reikiavik, afterward the capital, named from the 
"reek" or steam of its hot springs. So important 
did this colony become that in the second genera- 
tion the population amounted to 60.000. 

Ingolf was admired by the poet James Mont- 
gomery (not to be confounded with Robert, whom 
Macaulay criticized so severely) , who in 18 19 thus 
wrote of him and his island : 

There on a homeless soil his foot he placed, 
Framed his hut-palace, colonized the waste, 
And ruled his horde with patriarchal sway 
—Where Justice reigns, 'tis Freedom to obey. . . . 
And Iceland shone for generous lore renowned, 
A northern light when all was gloom around. 

The next year after Ingolf had come to Iceland, Gunn- 
Viorn, a hardy Norseman, driven in his ship westerly, 
sighted a -strange land. . . . About half a century later, 
judging by the Icelandic sagas, we learn that a wind-tossed 
vessel was thrown upon a coast far away which was called 
"Mickle Ireland" (Irland it Mikla)— [Winsor's Hist. Amer- 
ica, i, 61 J 

Gunnbiorn's discovery was utilized by Erik the 
Red, another sea-rover, in A. d. 980, who sailed to 
it and, after three years' stay, returned with 
a favorable account — giving it the fair name 
Greenland. The Xorse established two centers of 
population on Greenland. It is now believed that 
after doubling Cape Farewell, they built their first 
town near that head and the second farther north. 
The former, Eystribygd (i. e., "Easter Bigging"), 
developed into a large colony, having in the four- 



PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES 



21 



teenth century 190 settlements, with a cathedral 
and eleven churches, and containing two cities 
and three or four monasteries. The second town, 
Westribygd (i. e., "Wester Bigging") had grown 
to ninety settlements and four churches in the 
same time. 

The germ and root of that civilization (after- 
ward extinct, as we shall see) was due to Leif the 
son of Red Erik, who visited Norway, the mother- 
country, at the very close of the tenth century. 



Remains of a Norse Church at Katortuk, Greenland. 



He found that the king and people there had en- 
thusiastically embraced the new religion, Chris- 
tianity. Leif presently shared their fervor, and 
decided to reject Woden, Thor, and the other 
gods of old Scandinavia. A priest was told off 
to accompany Leif back to Greenland, and preach 
the new faith. It was thus that a Christian civil- 
ization first found footing in arctic America. 

The ruins of those early Christian churches 
(see illustration above) form most interesting 
objects in modern Greenland; near the chief ruin 
is a curious circular group of large stones. 




2 2 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



The poet of "Greenland," to whom we have 
already referred, quotes from a Danish chronicle 
to the effect that, in the golden age of the colony, 
there were a hundred parishes to form the bishop- 
ric ; and that the see was ruled by seventeen bish- 
ops from a. d. 1 1 20 to 1408. Bishop Andrew is 
the last mentioned, ordained in 1408 by the Arch- 
bishop of Drontheim. 

From the same authority we learn that accord- 
ing to some of the annals "the best wheat grew 
to perfection in the valleys ; the forests were ex- 
tensive ; flocks and herds were numerous and very 
large and fat." The Cloister of St. Thomas was 
heated by pipes from a warm spring, and attached 
to the cloister was a richly cultivated garden. 

After Leif, son of Erik, had introduced Chris- 
tianity into Greenland, his next step was to extend 
the Norse civilization still farther within the 
American continent. News had reached him of a 
new land, with a level coast, lying nine days' sail- 
ing southwest of Greenland. Picking thirty-five 
men, Leif started for further exploration. One 
part of the new country was barren and rocky, 
therefore Leif named it HcUuland (i. e.. "Stone 
Land"), which appears to have been Newfound- 
land. Farther south they found a sandy shore, 
backed by a level forest country, which Leif 
named Marklafid (i. e., "Wood Land" ). identified 
with Xova Scotia. After two days' sail, accord- 
ing to the saga account, having landed and ex- 
plored the new continent along the banks of a 
river, thev resolved to winter there. In one of 
these explorations a German called Tyrker found 
some grapes on a wild vine, and brought a speci- 
men for the admiration of Leif and his party. 



PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES 23 

This country was therefore named Finland (i. e., 
"Wine Land"), and is identified with New 
England, part of Rhode Island, and Massachu- 
setts.* 

Our Greenland poet thus refers to Leif's land- 
ing: 

Wineland the glad discoverers called that shore, 
And back the tidings of its riches bore ; 
But soon return' d with colonizing bands. 

The Norsemen founded a regular settlement in 
Vinland, establishing there a Christian commu- 
nity related to that of Greenland. Leif's brother, 
Korvald, explored the interior in all directions. 
With the natives, who are called "Skraelings" in 
the sagas, they traded in furs ; these people, who 
seemed dwarfish to the Norsemen, used leathern 
boats and were no doubt Eskimos : 

A stunted, stern, uncouth, amphibious stock. 

The principal settler in Vinland was Thorfinn, 
an Icelander, who had married a daughter-in-law 
of Erik the Red. She persuaded Thorfinn to sail 
to the new country in order to make a permanent 
settlement there. In the year 1007 a. d. he sailed 
with 160 men, having live stock and other colonial 
equipments. After three years he returned to 
Greenland, his wife having given birth to a son 
during their first year in Vinland. From this son, 
Snorre, it is claimed by some Norwegian his- 
torians, that Thorwaldsen, the eminent Danish 

* Prof. R. B. Anderson says, "The basin of the Charles 
River should be selected as the most probable scene of the 
visits of Leif Erikson, etc " [v. map ] 



PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES 25 

sculptor is descended. After the time of Thorfinn, 
the settlement in Vinland continued to flourish, 
having a good export trade in timber with Green- 
land. In 1 121 a. d. according to the Icelandic 
saga, the bishop, Erik Upsi, visited Vinland, that 
country being, like Iceland and Greenland, in- 
cluded in his bishopric. The last voyage to Vin- 
land for timber, according to the sagas, was in 
1347. 

Professor Horsford, of Cambridge, Mass., 
finds the site of Norumbega, mentioned in various 
old maps, on the River Charles, near Waltham, 
Mass., and maintains that town to be identical 
with Vinland of the Norsemen. To prove his be- 
lief in this theory, the professor built a tower 
commemorating the Norse discoveries. He ar- 
gued that Norumbega was a corruption by the 
Indians of the word Norvegr, a Norse form of 
"Norway." 

The abandonment of Vinland by the Norse set- 
tlers may be compared with that of Gosnold's ex- 
pedition to the same region near the end of Queen 
Elizabeth's reign. Gosnold was sent to plant an 
English colony in America, after the failure of 
Sir Walter Raleigh's settlement at Roanoke 
(North Carolina) ; and the coast explored corre- 
sponded exactly to that which the Norse settlers 
had named Vinland, lying between the sites of 
Boston and New York. He gave the name Cape 
Cod to that promontory, and also named the 
islands Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and the 
Elizabeth group. Selecting one of these for set- 
tling a colony, he built on it a storehouse and fort. 
The scheme, however, failed, owing to the threats 
of the natives and the scarcity of supplies, and all 



26 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



the colonists sailed from Massachusetts, just as 
the Norse settlers had done many generations pre- 
viously. 

The expedition of Gosnold to Vinland, how- 
ever, bore good fruit, from the favorable report 
of the new country which he made at home. The 
merchants of Bristol fitted out two ships under 
Martin Pring, and in the first voyage a great part 
of Maine (lying north of Massachusetts ) was ex- 
plored, and the coast south to Martha's Vineyard, 
where Gosnold had been. This led to profitable 
traffic with the natives, and three years later 
Pring made a more complete survey of Maine. 

Vinland was also the scene of the famous land- 
ing of the Mayflower, bringing its Puritans from 
England. It was in Cape Cod Bay that she was 
first moored. After exploring the new country, 
just as Leif Erikson had done so many genera- 
tions previously, they chose a place on the west 
side of the bay and named the little settlement 
"Plymouth." after the last English port from 
which they had sailed. Farther north, still in 
Vinland. they soon founded two other towns, 
"Salem" and "Boston." Those three settle- 
ments have ever since been important centers of 
energy and intelligence in "Massachusetts, as well 
as memorials of the Xorse occupation of Vin- 
land. 

On the occasion of a public statue being erected 
in Boston, Mass., to the memory of Leif Erik- 
son, a committee of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society formally decided thus : "It is antecedently 
probable that the Northmen discovered America 
in the early part of the eleventh century." 

Prof. Daniel Wilson, in his learned work Pre- 



PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES 27 

historic Man (ii, 83, 85), thus gives his opinion 
as to the Norse colony : 

With all reasonable doubt as to the accuracy of details, 
there is the strongest probability in favor of the authenticity 
of the American Vinland. 



Of the Norse colonies in Greenland there are 
some undoubted remains, one being a stone in- 




The Dighton Stone in the Taunton River, Massachusetts. 



scription in runes, proving that it was made be- 
fore the Reformation, when that mode of writing 
was forbidden by law. The stone is four miles 
beyond Upernavik. The inscription, according to 
Professor Rask, runs thus : 

Erling the son of Sigvat, and Enride Oddsoen, 
Had cleared the place and raised a mound 
On the Friday after Rogation-day; 

— date either 1 135 or 11 70. 



28 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



Rafn, the celebrated Danish archeologist. states 
as the result of many years' research, that Amer- 
ica was repeatedly visited by the Icelanders in the 
eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries ; that 
the estuary of the St. Lawrence was their chief 
station ; that they had coasted southward to Caro- 
lina, everywhere introducing some Christian civ- 
ilization among the natives. 

A supposed rock memorial of the Xorsemen 
is the Dighton Stone in the Taunton River, Mas- 




The Dighton Stone. Fig. 2. 



sachusetts ; one of its sentences, according to Pro- 
fessor Rafn, being : 

"Thorfinn with 151 Xorse seafaring men took 
possession of this land." 

The figures and letters (whether runic or 
merely Indian) inscribed on the Dighton Rock 
have been copied by antiquaries at the following 
dates: 1680. 1712, 1730. 1768, 1788, 1807, 1812. 
The above illustration (Fig. 2) shows the last 
mentioned. 

There have been many probable traces of ancient 
Xorsemen found in America, besides those al- 
ready given. At Cape Cod, in the last generation, 



PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES 29 



a number of hearth-stones were found under a 
layer of peat. A more famous relic was the skel- 
eton dug up in Fall River, Mass., with an orna- 
mental belt of metal tubes made from fragments 
of flat brass ; there were also some arrow-heads 
of the same material. Longfellow, the New Eng- 
land poet, naturally had his attention directed to 
this discovery (made, 1831), and founded on it 
his ballad The Skeleton in Armor, connecting it 
with the Round Tower at Newport. The latter, 
according to Professor Rafn, "was erected decid- 
edly not later than the twelfth century." 

I was a Viking old, 

My deeds, though manifold, 

No Skald in song has told 

No Saga taught thee! . 
Far in the Northern Land 
By the wild Baltic's strand 
I with my childish hand 

Tamed the ger-falcon. 
Oft to his frozen lair 
Tracked I the grisly bear, 
While from my path the hare 

Fled like a shadow. 

Scarce had I put to sea 
Bearing the maid with me — 
Fairest of all was she 

Among the Norsemen! 
Three weeks we westward bore, 
And when the storm was o'er, 
Cloud-like we saw the shore 

Stretching to leeward; 
There for my lady's bower, 
Built I this lofty tower 
Which to this very hour 

Stands looking seaward ! 



30 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



Sir Clements Markham, of the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society, believes that the Xorse settlers 
in Greenland were driven from their settlements 
there by Eskimos coming, not from the interior of 
America, but from West Siberia along the polar 
regions, by YYrangell Land [v. Journal, R. G. S.. 
1865, and Arctic Geography, 1875]. 

There was much curiosity from the sixteenth to 
the nineteenth century as to the site of the lost 
colonies of Greenland which had so long flour- 
ished. In 1568 and 1579 the King of Denmark 
sent two expeditions, the latter in charge of an 
Englishman, but no traces were found. At the 
beginning of the eighteenth century some light 
was thrown upon the problem by a missionary 
called Egede. who first described the ruins and 
relics observable on the west coast. By the suc- 
cess of his preaching among the Greenlanders for 
fifteen years, assisted by other gospel mission- 
aries, the Moravians were induced to found their 
settlements in the country, principally in the 
southwest. 

It seems probable that in early times the climate 
of Iceland was milder than it now is. Columbus, 
some fifteen years before his great voyage across 
the Atlantic, sailed to this northern "Thule," and 
reports that there was no ice. If so, it is surely 
possible that Greenland also may have been 
greener and more attractive than during the re- 
cent centuries. Why should it not at one time 
have been fully deserving of the name by which 
we still know it ? Some would explain the change 
in climatic conditions by the closing in of ice- 
packs. At present Greenland is buried deep 
under a vast, solid ice-cap from which only a few 



PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES 31 



of the highest peaks protrude to show the posi- 
tion of the submerged mountains, but at former 
periods, according to geologists, there were gar- 
dens and farms flourishing under a genial climate. 
Others suppose that, were the ice removed, we 
should see an archipelago of elevated islands. 

2. Celtic Discovery of America. — We have al- 
ready glanced at the fact that when the Norsemen 
first seized Iceland they found that island inhab- 
ited by Irish Celts. These Christianized Celts 
made way before the savage invaders, who did not 
accept the Catholic religion till about the close of 
the tenth century. Sailing south, those dispos- 
sessed Irish probably joined their brother Celts 
who had already long held a district on the east- 
ern coast of North America, which some Norse 
skippers called "White Man's Land," and also 
Irland-it-Mikla (i. e., "Mickle Ireland"). Pro- 
fessor Rafn places this district on the coast of 
Carolina. A learned memoir, published 1851, 
attempts to prove that the mysterious "mound- 
builders" of the Ohio Valley were of the same 
race as the settlers on Mickle Ireland, and related 
to the "white-bearded men" who established an 
extinct civilization in Mexico. A French anti- 
quary, 1875, identified Mickle Ireland with On- 
tario and Quebec. Beauvois, in his Elysee trans- 
atlantique, derives the name Labrador from the 
Innis Labrada, an island mentioned in an ancient 
Irish romance.* Another Irish discoverer was 
St. Brandan,f Abbot of Cluainfert, Ireland (died 

* As to the Irish claim for the pre-Columbian discovery of 
America, see also Humboldt (Cosmos, ii, 607), and Laing 
(Heimsk., i. 186). 

t MS. Book of Lismore 



32 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



May 16. 577) , who was told that far in the ocean 
lay an island which was the land promised to the 
saints. St. Brandan set sail in company with 
seventy-five monks, and spent seven years upon 
the ocean in two voyages, discovering this island 
and many others equally marvelous, including one 
which turned out to be the back of a huge fish, 
upon which they celebrated Easter.* 

Among the Celtic claimants for discover}* we 
must also include the Welsh, who lay stress upon 
certain resemblances between their language and 
the dialects of the native Americans. A better ar- 
gument is the historical account taken from their 
annals about the expedition of Prince Madoc, son 
of a Welsh chieftain, who sailed due west in the 
year 1170. after the rumor of the Xorse discov- 
eries had reached Britain. He landed on a vast 
and fertile continent where he settled 120 colo- 
nists. On his return to Wales he fitted out a sec- 
ond fleet of ten ships, but the annals give no re- 
port of the result. Several writers state that the 
place of landing was near the Gulf of Mexico: 
Hakluyt connecting the discover}* with Mexico 
(1589) and again with the West Indies (edition 
of 1600). In the seventeenth century some au- 
thors wished to substantiate the story of Prince 
[Madoc. in order that the British claim to America 
should antedate the Spanish claim through Co- 
lumbus. Prince Madoc is. to most readers, only 
known by Southey's poem.+ 

3. Basque Discovery of America. — Who are 
the Basque people? A curious race of Spanish 

* The story is given by Humboldt and D'Avezac. 
+ Some quotations from Southey's poem are given in 
Chapters V, VI. 



PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES 33 



mountaineers, who have been as great a puzzle 
to ethnologists and historians as their language 
has been to philologists and scholars. We know, 
however, that in former times they were nearly 
all seamen, making long voyages to the north for 
whale and Newfoundland cod fishing. They 
have produced excellent navigators ; and possibly 
preceded Columbus in discovering America. Se- 
bastian, the lieutenant of Magellan, was one of 
the Basque race. Magellan did not live to com- 
plete his famous voyage, therefore Sebastian was 
the first actual circumnavigator of our globe. 

Francois Michel, in his work Le Pays Basque, 
says that the Basque sailors knew the coasts of 
Newfoundland a century before the time of Co- 
lumbus ; and that it was from one of these ocean 
mariners that he first learned the existence of a 
continent beyond the Atlantic. Other arguments 
are derived from comparing the peculiarities of 
the Basque tongue with those of the American 
dialects. Whitney, an American scholar, con- 
cludes that "No other dialect of the Old World 
so much resembles the American languages in 
structure as the Basque." 

4. Jewish Discovery of America. — There is 
one claim for the discovery of America, which, 
though quite improbable, if not impossible, has 
been upheld and sanctioned by many scholarly 
works in several languages. It is argued that the 
red Indians represent the ten "Lost Tribes" of 
the Hebrew people who had been deported to 
Assyria and Media (v. Extinct Civilizations of 
the East, p. 109). The theory was first started 
by some Spanish priest-missionaries, and has 
since been defended by many learned divines both 



34 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



in England and America, one leading argument 
being certain similarities in the languages. Catlin 
{v. Smithsonian Report, 1885 ) enumerates many 
analogies which he found among the Western 
Indians. The most authoritative statement is that 
of Lord Kingsborough in the well-known Mex- 
ican Antiquities (1830-48J, chiefly in Vol. VII. 
Some writers actually quote a statement made in 
the Mormon Bible! Leading Xew England di- 
vines, like Mayhew and Cotton Mather, espoused 
the cause with similar faith, as well as Roger 
Williams and William Penn. 

5. The Italian Discozery of America. — Not 
through Columbus the Genoese, or Amerigo Ves- 
pucci, the Florentine, although they were cer- 
tainly Italians, but by two Venetians, Nicolo and 
Antonio Zeno. In a. d. 1380 or 1390 these brothers 
Zeni were shipwrecked in the Xorth Atlantic, and, 
when staying in Frislanda, made the acquaint- 
ance of a sailor who, after twenty-six years' ab- 
sence, had returned, giving them the following 
report : 

"Being driven west in a gale, he found an island 
with civilized inhabitants, who had Latin books, 
but could not speak Norse, and whose country was 
called Estotiland, while a region on the mainland, 
farther south, to which he had also gone, was 
called Drogeo. Here he had met with cannibals. 
Still farther south was a great country with towns 
and temples." 

The two brothers Zeni finally conveyed this ac- 
count to another brother in Venice, together with 
a map of those distant regions, but these docu- 
ments remained neglected till 1558, when a de- 
scendant compiled a book to embody the informa- 



PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES 35 



tion, accompanied by a map, now famous as "the 
Zeno map." 

Humboldt, with reference to this map, remarks 
that it is singular that the name Frislanda should 
have been applied by Columbus to an island south 
of Iceland. Washington Irving (in his Life of 
Columbus) explains the book by a desire to appeal 
to the national pride of Italy, since, if true, the 
discovery of the brothers would antedate that of 
Columbus by a century. 

Malte-Brun, the distinguished geographer, dis- 
tinctly accepted the Zeni narrative as true, and 
believed that it was by colonists from Greenland 
that the Latin books had reached Estotiland. 
Another strong advocate afterward appeared in 
Mr. Major, an official in the map department of 
the British Museum, who believed that much of 
the map in question represented genuine informa- 
tion of the fourteenth century, mixed with some 
spurious parts inserted by the younger Zeno. Mr. 
Major's paper on The Site of the Lost Colony 
of Greenland Determined, and the pre-Columbian 
Discoveries of America Confirmed, appeared in 
R. Geog. Soc. Journal, 1873 ; v. also Proc. Mass. 
Hist. Soc, 1874. Nordenskjold also accepted the 
chief results of this Italian discovery, and as an 
arctic explorer of experience, his opinion carries 
weight. Mercator and Hugo Grotius were also 
believers in the Zeni account. 



36 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



CHAPTER II 

"DISCOVERY OF THE WORLD AND OF MAN" 

At the beginning of this book a reference was 
made to the great upheaval in European history 
called the "Renascence" (Fr. renaissance) or Re- 
vival of Learning. In 1453 the Turks took Con- 
stantinople, driving the Greek scholars to take 
refuge in Italy, which at once became the most 
civilized nation in Europe. Poetry, philosophy, 
and art thence found their way to France, Eng- 
land, and Germany, being greatly assisted by the 
invention of printing, which just then was begin- 
ning to make books cheaper than they ever had 
been. At the same time feudalism was ruined, be- 
cause the invention of gunpowder had previously 
been changing the art of war. For example, the 
King of France, Louis XI, as well as the King 
of England, Henry VII, had entire disposal of 
the national artillery; and therefore overawed 
the barons and armored knights. Neither moated 
fortresses nor mail-clad warriors, nor archers with 
bows and arrows, could prevail against powder 
and shot. The middle ages had come to an end ; 
modern Europe was being born. France had be- 
come concentrated by the union of the south to 
the north on the conclusion of the "Hundred 
Years' War," the final expulsion of the English, 
and the abolition of all the great feudatories of 
the kingdom. England, at the same time, had 
entirely swept away the rule of the barons by the 
recent "Wars of the Roses," and Henry had 



DISCOVERY OF THE WORLD AND OF MAN 37 

strengthened his position by alliance with France, 
Spain, and Scotland. Spain, by the expulsion of 
the Moors from Granada in a. d. 1492, was for the 
first time concentrated into one great state by the 
union of Isabella's Kingdom of Castile-Leon to 
Ferdinand's Kingdom of Aragon-Sicily. 

From the importance of the word renaissance 
as indicating the "movement of transition from 
the medieval to the modern world," Matthew 
Arnold gave it the English form "renascence" — 
adopted by J. R. Green, Coleridge, and others. In 
Germany, this great revival of letters and learn- 
ing was contemporaneous with the Reformation, 
which had long been preparing (e. g., in England 
since John Wyclif ) and was specially assisted by 
the invention of printing, which we have just men- 
tioned. The minds of men everywhere were 
expanded: "whatever works of history, science, 
morality, or entertainment seemed likely to in- 
struct or amuse were printed and distributed 
among the people at large by printers and book- 
sellers." 

Thus it was that, though the Turks never had 
any pretension to learning or culture, yet their 
action in the middle of the fifteenth century in- 
directly caused a marvelous tide of civilization to 
overflow all the western countries of Europe. 
Another result in the same age was the increase 
of navigation and exploration — the discovery of 
the world as well as of man. When the Turks 
became masters of the eastern shores of the 
Mediterranean, the European merchants were 
prevented from going to India and the East by 
the overland route, as had been done for genera- 
tions. Thus, since geography was at this very 



38 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

time improved by the science of Copernicus and 
others, the natural inquiry was how to reach India 
by sea instead of going overland. Columbus, 
therefore, sailed due west to reach Asia, and 
stumbled upon a "New World" without knowing 
what he did ; then Cabot, sailing from Bristol, 
sailed northwest to reach India, and stumbled 
upon the continent of America; and during the 
same reign (Henry VII) the Atlantic coast of 
both North and South America was visited by 
English, Portuguese, or Spanish navigators. The 
third expedition to reach India by sea was under 
De Gama. He set out in the same year as Cabot, 
sailing into the South Atlantic, and ultimately did 
find the west coast of India at Calicut, after 
rounding the cape. 

The mere enumeration of so many events, all 
of first-rate importance, proves that that half cen- 
tury (say from a. d. 1460 to 1520) must be called 
"an age of marvels," sccclum mirabile. The con- 
currence of so many epoch-making results gave a 
great impulse, not only to the study of literature, 
science, and art, but to the exploration of many 
unknown countries in America, Africa, and Asia, 
and the universal expansion of human knowledge 
generally. 

I. — We shall now consider the first of these dis- 
coverers, who was also the greatest. 

Columbus, the Latinized form of the Italian 
Colombo, Spanish, Colon. This Genoese navi- 
gator must throughout all history be called the 
discoverer of America, notwithstanding all the 
work of smaller men. From his study of geo- 
graphical books in several languages, Columbus 
had convinced himself that our planet is spherical 



DISCOVERY OF THE WORLD AND OF MAN 39 

or ball-shaped, not a flat, plane surface. Till then 
India had always been reached by traveling over- 
land toward the rising sun. Why not sail west- 
ward from Europe over the ocean, and thus come 
to the eastern parts of Asia by traveling toward 
the setting sun ? By doing so, since our world is 
ball-shaped, said Columbus, we must inevitably 
reach Zipango (i. e., "Japan") and Cathay (i. e., 
"China"), which are the most eastern parts of 
Asia. India then will be a mere detail. Judging 
from the accounts of Asia and its eastern islands 
given by Marco Polo, a Venetian, as well as from 
the maps sketched by Ptolemy, the Egyptian 
geographer, Columbus believed that the east coast 
of Asia was not so very far from the west coast 
of Europe. Columbus was confirmed in this opin- 
ion by a learned geographer of Florence, named 
Paul, and henceforward impatiently waited for an 
opportunity of testing the truth of his theory. 

He convinced himself, but could not convince 
any one else, that a westerly route to India was 
quite feasible. First he laid his plans before the 
authorities at Genoa, who had for generations 
traded with Asia by the overland journey, and 
ought therefore to have been glad to learn of this 
new alternative route, since the Turks were now 
playing havoc with the other; but no, they told 
Columbus that his idea was chimerical ! Next he 
applied to the court of France. "Ridiculous !" was 
the reply, accompanied with a polite sneer. Next 
Columbus sent his scheme to Henry VII of Eng- 
land, a prince full of projects, but miserly. "Too 
expensive !" was the Tudor's reply, though pres- 
ently, after the Spanish success, he became eager 
to despatch expeditions from Bristol under the 



40 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

Cabots. Then Columbus, by the advice of his 
brother, who had settled in Lisbon as a map- 
maker, approached King John, seeking patronage 
and assistance, pleading the foremost position of 
Portugal among the maritime states. The Portu- 
guese neglected the golden opportunity, ocean 
navigation not being in their way as yet; their 
skippers preferred "to hug the African shore.'' 

At last Columbus gained the ear of Isabella, 
Queen of Castile; she believed in him and tried 
to get the assistance of her husband, Ferdinand, 
King of Aragon, in providing an outfit for the 
great expedition. Owing to Ferdinand's war . in 
expelling the Moors from Granada, Columbus 
had still to wait several years. 

In a previous year, 1477, Columbus had sailed 
to the North Atlantic, perhaps in one of those 
Basque whalers already referred to, going "a 
hundred leagues beyond Thule." If that means 
Iceland, as is generally supposed, it seems most 
probable that, when conversing with the sailors 
there he must have heard how Leif, with his 
Norsemen, had discovered the American coasts 
of Newfoundland and Vinland some five cen- 
turies earlier, and how they had settled a colony 
on the new continent. Other writers have pointed 
out that Columbus could very well have heard of 
Vinland and the Northmen before leaving Genoa, 
since one of the Popes had sanctioned the ap- 
pointment of a bishop over the new diocese. If so, 
the visit of Columbus to Iceland probably gave 
him confirmation as to the Norse discovery of the 
American continent. 

When at last King Ferdinand had taken Gra- 
nada from the Moors, Columbus was put in com- 



DISCOVERY OF THE WORLD AND OF MAN 4* 

mand of three ships, with 120 men. He set sail 
from the port of Palos, in Andalusia, on a Fri- 
day, August 3, 1492, first steering to the Canary 
Islands, and then standing due west. In Septem- 
ber, to the amazement of all on board, the com- 
pass was seen to "vary" : an important scientific 
discovery — viz., that the magnetic needle does not 
always point to the pole-star. Some writers have 
imagined that the compass was for the first time 
utilized for a long journey by Columbus, but the 
occult power of the magnetic needle or "lode- 
stone" had been known for ages before the fif- 
teenth century. The ancient Persians and other 
"wise men of the East" used the lodestone as a 
talisman. Both the Mongolian and Caucasian 
races used it as an infallible guide in traveling 
across the mighty plains of Asia. The Cynosure 
in the Great Bear was the "guiding star," whether 
by sea or land; but when the heavens were 
wrapped in clouds, the magic stone or needle 
served to point exactly the position of the unseen 
star. What Columbus and his terrified crews dis- 
covered was the "variation of the compass," due 
to the fact that the magnetic needle points, not to 
the North Star, but to the "magnetic pole," a 
point in Canada to the west of Baffin's Bay and 
north of Hudson Bay. 

If Columbus had continued steering due west 
he would have landed on the continent of America 
in Florida; but before sighting that coast the 
course was changed to southwest, because some 
birds were seen flying in that direction. The first 
land reached was an island of the Bahama group, 
which he named San Salvador. As the Spanish 
boats rowed to shore they were welcomed by 



42 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



crowds of astonished natives, mostly naked, un- 
less for a girdle of wrought cotton or plaited 
feathers. Hence the lines of Milton: 

Such of late 

Columbus found the American, so girt 
With feathered cincture, naked else and wild, 
Among the trees on isles and woody shores. 

The spot of landing was formerly identified by 
Washington Irving and Baron Humboldt with 
"Cat Island"; but from the latest investigation it 
is now believed to have been Watling's Island. 
Here he landed on a Friday, October 12, 1492. 

So little was then known of the geography of 
the Atlantic or of true longitude, that Columbus 
attributed these islands to the east coast of Asia. 
He therefore named them "Indian Islands," as if 
close to Hindustan, a blunder that has now been 
perpetuated for four hundred and ten years. The 
natives were called "Indians" for the same rea- 
sons. As the knowledge of geography advanced 
it became necessary to say "West Indies'" or 
"East Indies" respectively, to distinguish Amer- 
ican from Asiatic — "Indian corn" means Ameri- 
can, but "Indian ink" means Asiatic, etc. Even 
after his fourth and last voyage Columbus be- 
lieved that the continent, as well as the islands, 
was a portion of eastern Asia, and he died in that 
belief, without any suspicion of having discov- 
ered a Xew World. 

A curious confirmation of the opinion of Co- 
lumbus has just been discovered (1894) in the 
Florence Library, by Dr. Wieser, of Innsbruck. 
It is the actual copy of a map by the Great Ad- 
miral, drawn roughly in a letter written from 



DISCOVERY OF THE WORLD AND OF MAN 43 

Jamaica, July, 1503. It shows that his belief as 
to the part of the world reached in his voyages 
was that it was the east coast of Asia. 

The chief discovery made by Columbus in his 
first voyage was the great island of Cuba, which 
he imagined to be part of a continent. Some of 
the Spaniards went inland for sixty miles and 
reported that they had reached a village of more 
than a thousand inhabitants, and that the corn 
used for food was called' maize — probably the 
first instance of Europeans using a term which 
was afterward to become as familiar as "wheat" 
or "barley." The natives told Columbus that 
their gold ornaments came from Cubakan, mean- 
ing the interior of Cuba ; but he, on hearing the 
syllable kan, immediately thought of the "Khan" 
mentioned by Marco Polo, and therefore imag- 
ined that "Cathay" (the China of that famous 
traveler) was close at hand. The simple-minded 
Cubans were amazed that the Spaniards had such 
a love for gold, and pointed eastward to another 
island, which they called Hayti, saying it was 
more plentiful there than in Cuba. Thus Colum- 
bus discovered the second in size of all the West 
Indian islands, Cuba being the first ; he, after 
landing on it, called it "Hispaniola," or Little 
Spain. Hayti in a few years became the head- 
quarters of the Spanish establishments in the 
New World, after its capital, San Domingo, had 
been built by Bartholomew Columbus. It was in 
this island that the Spaniards saw the first of the 
"caziques," or native princes, afterward so famil- 
iar during the conquest of Mexico ; he was car- 
ried on the shoulders of four men, and cour- 
teously presented Columbus with some plates of 



44 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



gold. In a letter to the monarchs of Spain the 
admiral thus refers to the natives of Hayti : 

The people are so affectionate, so tractable, and so 
peaceable that I swear to your Highnesses there is not a 
better race of men, nor a better country in the world ; . . . 
their conversation is the sweetest and mildest in the world, 
and always accompanied with a smile. The king is served 
with great state, and his behavior is so decent that it is 
pleasant to see him. 

The admiral had previously described the In- 
dians of Cuba as equally simple and friendly, tell- 
ing how they had "honored the strangers as 
sacred beings allied to heaven." The pity of it, 
and the shame, is that those frank, unsuspicious, 
islanders had no notion or foresight of the cruel 
desolation which their gallant guests were pres- 
ently to bring upon the native races — death, and 
torture, and extermination ! 

A harbor in Cuba is thus described by Colum- 
bus in a letter to Ferdinand and Isabella : 

I discovered a river which a galley might easily enter. 
... I found from five to eight fathoms of water. Having 
proceeded a considerable way up the river, everything in- 
vited me to settle there. The beauty of the river, the clear- 
ness of the water, the multitude of palm-trees and an in- 
finite number of other large and flourishing trees, the birds 
and the verdure of the plains, ... I am so much amazed 
at the sight of such beauty, that I know not how to de- 
scribe it. 

Having lost his flag-ship, Columbus returned to 
Spain with the two small caravels that remained 
from his petty fleet of three, arriving in the port 
of Palos March 15, 1493. The reception of the 



DISCOVERY OF THE WORLD AND OF MAN 45 

successful explorer was a national event. He en- 
tered Barcelona to be presented at court with 
every circumstance of honor and triumph. Sit- 
ting in presence of the king and queen he re- 
lated his wondrous tale, while his attendants 
showed the gold, the cotton, the parrots and other 
unknown birds, the curious arms and plants, and 
above all the nine "Indians" with their outlandish 
trappings — brought to be made Christians by bap- 
tism. Ferdinand and Isabella heaped honors 
upon the successful navigator; and in return he 
promised them the untold riches of Zipango and 
Cathay. A new fleet, larger and better equipped, 
was soon found for a second voyage. 

With his new ships, in 1498, Columbus again 
stood due west from the Canaries ; and at last 
discovering an island with three mountain sum- 
mits he named it Trinidad (i. e., "Trinity") 
without knowing that he was then coasting the 
great continent of South America. A few days 
later he and the crew were amazed by a tumult 
of waves caused by the fresh water of a great 
river meeting the sea. It was the "Oronooko," 
afterward called Orinoco ; and from its volume 
Columbus and his shipmates concluded that it 
must drain part of a continent or a very large 
island. 

Where Orinoco in his pride, 
Rolls to the main no tribute tide, 
But 'gainst broad ocean urges far 
A rival sea of roaring war ; 
While in ten thousand eddies driven 
The billows fling their foam to heaven, 
And the pale pilot seeks in vain, 
Where rolls the river, where the main. 



46 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

That was the first glimpse which they had of 
America proper, still imagining it was only a part 
of eastern Asia. In the following voyage, his 
last, Columbus coasted part of the Isthmus of 
Darien. It was not, however, explored till the 
visit of Balboa. 

It was during his third voyage that the "Great 
Admiral" suffered the indignity at San Domingo 
of being thrown into chains and sent back to 
Spain. This was done by Bobadilla, an officer 
of the royal household, who had been sent out 



with full power to put down misrule. The mon- 
archs of Spain set Columbus free ; and soon after- 
ward he was provided with four ships for his 
fourth voyage. Stormy weather wrecked this 
final expedition, and at last he was glad to arrive 
in Spain, November 7, 1504. He now felt that 
his work on earth was done, and died at Valla- 
dolid, May 20, 1506. After temporary interment 
there his body was transferred to the cathedral 
of San Domingo — whence, 1796, some remains 
were removed with imposing ceremonies to Ha- 




•X- 



Cipher autograph of Columbus. 
The interpretation of the cipher is probably: 
SERVATF Christ 1 " Mari a Yoseph^s (Christoferens). 



DISCOVERY OF THE WORLD AND OF MAN 47 



vana. From later investigations it appears that 
the ashes of the Genoese discoverer are still in the 
tomb of San Domingo. 

. It was in the cathedral of Seville, over his first 
tomb, that King Ferdinand is said to have hon- 
ored the memory of the Great Admiral with a 
marble monument bearing the well-known epi- 
taph : 



A CASTILLA Y ARAGON 
NUEVO MUNDO DIO COLON. 



or, "To the united Kingdom of Castile-Aragon 
Columbus gave a Nezv World/' 

After the death of Columbus, it seemed as if 
fate intended his family to enjoy the honors and 
rewards of which he had been so unjustly de- 
prived. His son, Diego, wasted two years trying 
to obtain from King Ferdinand the offices of vice- 
roy and admiral, which he had a right to claim in 
accordance with the arrangement formerly made 
with his father. At last Diego began a suit 
against Ferdinand before the council which man- 
aged Indian affairs. That court decided in favor 
of Diego's claim ; and as he soon greatly improved 
his social position by marrying the niece of the 
Duke of Alva, a high nobleman, Diego received 
the appointment of governor (not viceroy), and 
went to Hayti, attended by his brother and uncles, 
as well as his wife and a large retinue. There 
Diego Columbus and his family lived, "with a 
splendor hitherto unknown in the New World." 



43 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



II. — Henry VII of England, after repenting 
that he had not secured the services of Columbus, 
commissioned John Cabot to sail from Bristol 
across the Atlantic in a northwesterly direction, 
with the hope of finding some passage there- 
abouts to India. In June, 1497, a new coast was 
sighted (probably Labrador or Newfoundland), 
and named Prima Vista. They coasted the con- 
tinent southward, "ever with intent to find the 
passage to India," till they reached the peninsula 
now called Florida. On this important voyage 
was based the claim which the English kings 
afterward made for the possession of all the At- 
lantic coast of Xorth America. King Henry 
wished colonists to settle in the new land, tarn viri 
quam feminte, but since, in his usual miserly char- 
acter, he refused to give a single "testcon/' or 
"groat" toward the enterprise, no colonies were 
formed till the days of Walter Raleigh, more than 
a century later. 

Sebastian Cabot, born in Bristol, 1477, was 
more renowned as a navigator than his father, 
John, and almost ranks with Columbus. After 
discovering Labrador or Newfoundland with his 
father, he sailed a second time with 300 men to 
form colonies, passing apparently into Hudson 
Bay. He wished to discover a channel leading 
to Hindustan, but the difficulties of icebergs and 
cold weather so frightened his crews that he was 
compelled to retrace his course. In another at- 
tempt at the northwest passage to Asia, he 
reached latitude 67^° north, and "gave English 
names to sundry places in Hudson Bay." In 
1526, when commanding a Spanish expedition 
from Seville, he sailed to Brazil, which had al- 



DISCOVERY OF THE WORLD AND OF MAN 49 

ready been annexed to Portugal by Cabrera, ex- 
plored the River La Plata and ascended part of 
the Paraguay, returning to Spain in 1531. After 
his return to England, King Edward VI had 
some interviews with Cabot, one topic being the 
"variation of the compass." He received a royal 
pension of 250 marks, and did special work in re- 
lation to trade and navigation. The great honor 
of Cabot is that he saw the American continent 
before Columbus or Amerigo Vespucci. 

III. — Of the great navigators of that unexam- 
pled age of discovery, as Spain was honored by 
Columbus and England by Cabot, so Portugal 
was honored by De Gama. Vasco de Gama, the 
greatest of Portuguese navigators, left Lisbon in 
1497 to explore the unknown world lying east of 
the Cape of Good Hope, arriving at Calicut, May, 
1498. Before that, Diaz had actually rounded the 
cape, but seems to have done so merely before a 
high gale. He named it "the stormy Cape." Ca- 
brera, or Cabral, was another great explorer sent 
from Portugal to follow in the route of De Gama ; 
but being forced into a southwesterly route by 
currents in the south Atlantic, he landed on the 
continent of America, and annexed the new coun- 
try to Portugal under the name of Brazil. Ca- 
brera afterward drew up the first commercial 
treaty between Portugal and India. 

IV. — Magellan, scarcely inferior to Columbus, 
brought honor as a navigator both to Portugal 
and; Spain. For the latter country, when in the 
service of Charles V, he revived the idea of Co- 
lumbus that we may sail to Asia or the Spice 
Islands by sailing west. With a squadron of five 
ships, 236 men, he sailed, in 15 19, to Brazil and 

4 



5© EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



convinced himself that the great estuary was not 
a strait. Sailing south along the American coast, 
he discovered the strait that bears his name, and 
through it entered the Pacific, then first sailed 
upon by Europeans, though already seen by Bal- 
boa and his men "upon a peak in Darien" — as 
Keats puts it in his famous sonnet.* From the 
continuous fine weather enjoyed for some months, 
Magellan naturally named the new sea "the Pa- 
cific. " After touching at the Ladrones and the 
Philippines, Magellan was killed in a fight with 
the inhabitants of Matan, a small island. Sebas- 
tian, his Basque lieutenant (mentioned in Chap- 
ter I) then successfully completed the circum- 
navigation of the world, sailing first to the 
Moluccas and thence to Spain. 

V. — Of all the world-famous navigators con- 
temporary with Colon, the Genoese, there re- 
mains only one deserving of our notice, and that 
because his name is for all time perpetuated in 
that of the New World. Amerigo (Latin Ameri- 
cus) Vespucci, born at Florence, 1451, had com- 
mercial occupation in Cadiz, and was employed 
by the Spanish Government. He has been charged 
with a fraudulent attempt to usurp the honor due 
to Columbus, but Humboldt and others have de- 
fended him, after a minute examination of the evi- 
dence. In a book published in 1 507 by a German, 
IValdseemilllcr, the author happens to say : 

And the fourth part of the world having been discovered 
by Americus, it may be called Amerige, that is the land of 
Americus, or America. 

* The poet, however, makes the clerical blunder of writing 
Cortez for Balboa. 



DISCOVERY OF THE WORLD AND OF MAN 5 1 



Vespucci never called himself the discoverer 
of the new continent; as a mere subordinate he 
could not think of such a thing. As a matter of 
fact, he and Columbus were always on friendly 
terms, attached, and trusted. Humboldt explains 
the blunder of Waldseemuller and others by the 
general ignorance of the history of how America 
was discovered, since for some years it was jeal- 
ously guarded as a "state secret." Humboldt 
curiously adds that the "musical sound of the 
name caught the public ear," and thus the blunder 
has been universally perpetuated : 

statque stabitque 

in omne volubilis cBvum. 

Another reason for the universal renown of 
Amerigo was that his book was the first that told 
of the new "Western World" ; and was therefore 
eagerly read in all parts of Europe. 

Cuba, though the largest of the West Indian 
islands, and second to be discovered, was not 
colonized till after the death of Columbus. Thus 
for more than three centuries and a half, as 
"Queen of the Antilles" and "Pearl of the An- 
tilles," Cuba has been noted as a chief colonial 
possession of Spain, till recent events brought it 
under the power of the United States. The con- 
quest of the island was undertaken by Velasquez, 
who, after accompanying the great admiral in his 
second voyage, had settled in Hispaniola (or 
Hayti) and acquired a large fortune there. He 
had little difficulty in the annexation of Cuba, be- 
cause the natives, like those of Hispaniola, were 
of a peaceful character, easily imposed upon by 
the invaders. The only difficulty Velasquez had 



52 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



was in the eastern part of the island, where 
Hatuey, a cazique or native chief, who had fled 
there from Hispaniola, made preparations to re- 
sist the Spaniards. When defeated, he was 
cruelly condemned by Velasquez to be burned to 
death, as a "slave who had taken arms against 
his master." The scene at Hatuey 's execution is 
well known : 

When fastened to the stake, a Franciscan friar promised 
him immediate admittance into the joys of heaven, if he 
would embrace the Christian faith. "Are there any Span- 
iards," says he, after some pause, "in that region of bliss 
which you describe?" "Yes" replied the monk, "but 
only such as are worthy and good." "The best of them 
have neither worth nor goodness : I will not go to a place 
where I may meet with one of that accursed race." 

Being thus annexed in 151 1, by the middle of 
the century all the native Indians of Cuba had 
become extinct. In the following century this 
large and fertile island suffered severely by the 
buccaneers, but during the eighteenth century it 
prospered. During the nineteenth century, the 
United States Government had often been urged 
to obtain possession of it ; for example, the sum 
of one hundred million dollars was offered in 1848 
by President Polk. Slavery was at last abolished 
absolutely in 1886. In recent years Spain, by 
ceding Cuba and the Philippines to the United 
States and the Carolines to Germany, has brought 
her colonial history to a close. 

Two other important events occurred when 
Velasquez was Governor of Cuba: first, the es- 
cape of Balboa from Hispaniola, to become after- 
ward Governor of Darien ; and, second, the expe- 



DISCOVERY OF THE WORLD AND OF MAN 53 

dition under Cordova to explore that part of the 
continent of America which lies nearest to Cuba. 
This expedition of no men, in three small ships, 
led to the discovery of that large peninsula now 
known as Yucatan. Cordova imagined it to be 
an island. The natives were not naked, like those 
of the West Indian islands, but wore cotton 
clothes, and some had ornaments of gold. In the 
towns, which contained large stone houses, and 
country generally, there were many proofs of a 
somewhat advanced civilization. The natives, 
however, were much more warlike than the sim- 
ple islanders of Cuba and Hispaniola ; and Cor- 
dova, in fact, was glad to return from Yucatan. 

Velasquez, on hearing the report of Cordova, 
at once fitted out four vessels to explore the newly 
discovered country, and despatched them under 
command of his nephew, Grijalva. Everywhere 
were found proofs of civilization, especially in 
architecture. The whole district, in fact, abounds 
in prehistoric remains. From a friendly chief 
Grijalva received a sort of coat of mail covered 
with gold plates ; and on meeting the ruler of the 
province he exchanged some toys and trinkets, 
such as glass beads, pins, scissors, for a rich treas- 
ure of jewels, gold ornaments and vessels. 

Grijalva was therefore the first European to 
step on the Aztec soil and open an intercourse 
with the natives. Velasquez, the Governor, at 
once prepared a larger expedition, choosing as 
leader or commander an officer who was destined 
henceforth to fill a much larger place in history 
than himself, one who presently appeared capable 
of becoming a general in the foremost rank, Her- 
nando Cortes, greatest of all Spanish explorers. 



54 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



CHAPTER III 
THE EXTINCT CIVILIZATION OF THE AZTECS 

In the Extinct Civilizations of the East it was 
shown that the cosmogony of the Chaldeans 
closely resembles that of the Hebrews and the 
Phenicians, and that the account of the deluge in 
Genesis exactly reproduces the much earlier one 
found on one of the Babylonian tablets. 

Traces of a. deluge legend also existed among 
the early Aztecs. They believed 

that two persons survived the Deluge, a man named Koksoz 
and his wife. Their heads are represented in ancient paint- 
ings together with a boat floating on the waters at the foot 
of a mountain. A dove is also depicted, with a hieroglyph- 
ical emblem of languages in his mouth. . . . Tezpi, the 
Noah of a neighboring people, also escaped in a boat, 
which was filled with various kinds of animals and birds. 
After some time a vulture was sent out from it, but re- 
mained feeding on the dead bodies of the giants, which had 
been left on the earth as the waters subsided. The little 
humming-bird was then sent forth and returned with the 
branch of a tree in its mouth. 

Another Aztec tradition of the deluge is that 
the pyramidal mound, the temple of Cholula (a 
sacred city on the way between the capital and 
the seaport), was built by the giants to escape 
drowning. Like the tower of Babel, it was in- 
tended to reach the clouds, till the gods looked 
down and, by destroying the pyramid by fires 
from heaven, compelled the builders to abandon 
the attempt. 



CIVILIZATION OF THE AZTECS 55 



The hieroglyphics used in the Aztec calendar 
correspond curiously with the zodiacal signs of 
the Mongols of eastern Asia. "The symbols in 
the Mongolian calendar are borrowed from ani- 
mals, and four of the twelve are the same as the 
Aztec." 

The antiquity of most of the monuments is 
proved — e. g., by the growth of trees in the midst 
of the buildings in Yucatan. Many have had 
time to attain a diameter of from six to nine feet. 
In a courtyard at Uxmal, the figures of tortoises 
sculptured in relief upon the granite pavement 
are so worn away by the feet of countless genera- 
tions of the natives that the design of the artist is 
scarcely recognizable. 

The Spanish invaders demolished every vestige 
of the Aztec religious monuments, just as Roman 
Catholic images and paraphernalia were once 
treated by the "straitest sects" of Protestants, or 
even Mohammedans. 

The beautiful plateau around the lakes of 
Mexico, as well as other central portions of 
America, were without any doubt occupied from 
the earliest ages by peoples who gradually ad- 
vanced in civilization from generation to genera- 
tion and passed through cycles of revolutions — 
in one century relapsing, in another advancing by 
leaps and bounds by an infusion of new blood or 
a change of environment — exactly similar to the 
checkered annals of the successive dynasties in 
the Nile Valley and the plains of Babylonia. In 
the New World, as in the Old World, from pre- 
historic times wealth was accumulated at such 
centers, bringing additional comfort and refine- 
ment, and implying the practise of the useful arts 



56 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



and some applications of science. As to the 
legendary migrations or even those extinct races 
whose names still remain, Max Miiller said : * 

The traditions are no better than the Greek traditions 
about Pelasgians, /Eolians, and Ionians, and it would be a 
mere waste of time to construct out of such elements a S) t s- 
tematic history, only to be destroyed again sooner or later, 
by some Niebuhr, Grote, or Lewis. 

Anahuac (i. e., ''waterside" or "the lake-coun- 
try"), in the early centuries of our era, was a 
name of the country round the lakes and town 
afterward called Mexico. To this center, as a 
place for settlement, there came from the north 
or northwest a succession of tribes more or less 
allied in race and language — especially (according 
to one theory) the Toltccs from Tula, and the 
Aztecs from Aztlan. Tula, north of the Mexican 
Valley, had been the first capital of the Toltecs, 
and at the time of the Spanish conquest there 
were remains of large buildings there. Most of 
the extensive temples and other edifices found 
throughout "New Spain" were attributed to this 
race and the word "toltek" became synonymous 
with "architect." 

Some five centuries after the Toltecs had aban- 
doned Tula, the Aztecs or early Mexicans arrived 
to settle in the Valley of Anahuac. With the 
Aztecs came the Tezcucans, whose capital, Tez- 
cuco, on the eastern border of the Mexican lake, 
has given it its still surviving name. 

The Aztecs, again, after long migrations from 
place to place, finally, in A. d. 1325, halted on the 

* Chips from a German Workshop, i, 327. 



CIVILIZATION OF THE AZTECS 57 



southwestern shores of the great lake. Accord- 
ing to tradition, a heavenly vision thus announced 
the site of their future capital : 

They beheld perched on the stem of a prickly-pear, 
which shot out from the crevice of a rock washed by the 
waves, a royal eagle of extraordinary size and beauty, with 
a serpent in its talons, and its broad wings opened to the 
rising sun. They hailed the auspicious omen, announced 
by an oracle as indicating the sight of their future city, and 
laid its foundations by sinking piles into the shallows ; for 
the low marshes were half buried under water. . . . The 
place was called Tenochtitlan (i. e. "the cactus on a rock") 
in token of its miraculous origin. [Such were the humble 
beginnings of the Venice of the Western World.] * 

To this day the arms of the Mexican republic 
show the device of the eagle and the cactus — to 
commemorate the legend of the foundation of the 
capital — afterward called Mexico from the name 
of their war-god. Fiercer and more warlike than 
their brethren of Tezcuco, the men of the latter 
town were glad of their assistance, when invaded 
and defeated by a hostile tribe. Thus Mexico 
and Tezcuco became close allies, and by the time 
of Montezuma I, in the middle of the fifteenth 
century, their sovereignty had extended beyond 
their native plateau to the coast country along the 
Gulf of Mexico. The capital rapidly increased in 
population, the original nouses being replaced by 
substantial stone buildings. There are documents 
showing that Tenochtitlan was of much larger 
dimensions than the modern capital of Mexico, on 
the same site. Just before the arrival of the Span- 
iards, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, 



* Prescott, i, I, pp. 8, 9. 



5 8 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

the kingdom extended from the gulf across to the 
Pacific ; and southward under the ruthless Ahuit- 
zotl over the whole of Guatemala and Nicaragua. 

The Aztecs resembled the ancient Peruvians in 
very few respects, one being the use of knots on 
strings of different colors to record events and 
numbers. Compare our account of "the quipu" 
in Chapter X. The Aztecs seem to have replaced 
that rude method of making memoranda during 
the seventh century by picture-writing. Before 
the Spanish invasion, thousands of native clerks 
or chroniclers were employed in painting on veg- 
etable paper and canvas. Examples of such man- 
uscripts may still be seen in all the great museums. 
Their contents chiefly refer to ritual, astrology, 
the calendar, annals of the kings, etc. 

Most of the literary productions of the ancient 
Mexicans were stupidly destroyed by the Spanish 
under Cortes. The first Archbishop of Mexico 
founded a professorship in 1553 for expounding 
the hieroglyphs of the Aztecs, but in the follow- 
ing century the study was abandoned. Even the 
native-born scholars confessed that they were un- 
able to decipher the ancient writing. One of the 
most ancient books (assigned to Tula, the "Tol- 
tec" capital, a. d. 660, and written by Huetmatzin, 
an astrologer), describes the heavens and the 
earth, the stars in their constellations, the ar- 
rangement of time in the official calendar, with 
some geography, mythology, and cosmogony. In 
the fifteenth century the King of Tezcuco pub- 
lished sixty hymns in honor of the Supreme Be- 
ing, with an elegy on the destruction of a town, 
and another on the instability of human greatness. 

In the same century the three Anahuac states 



CIVILIZATION OF THE AZTECS 59 



(Acolhua, Mexico, and Tlacopan) formed a con- 
federacy with a constant tendency to give Mexico 
the supremacy. The two capitals looking at each 
other across the lake were steadily growing in 
importance, with all the adjuncts of public works 
— causeways, canals, aqueducts, temples, palaces, 
gardens, and other evidences of wealth. 

The horror and disgust caused by the Aztec 
sacrificial bloodshed are greatly increased by con- 
sidering the number of the victims. The kings 
actually made war in order to provide as many 
victims as possible for the public sacrifices — 
especially on such an occasion as a coronation 
or the consecration of a new temple. Captives 
were sometimes reserved a considerable time for 
the purpose of immolation. It was the regular 
method of the Aztec warrior in battle not to kill 
one's opponent if he could be made a captive ; to 
take him alive was a meritorious act in religion. 
In fact, the Spaniards in this way frequently es- 
caped death at the hands of their Mexican oppo- 
nents. When King Montezuma was asked by a 
European general why he had permitted the re- 
public of Tlascala to remain independent on the 
borders of his kingdom, his reply was, "That she 
might furnish me with victims for my gods." 

In reckoning the number of victims Prescott 
seems to have trusted too implicitly to the almost 
incredible accounts of the Spanish. Zumurraga, 
the first Bishop of Mexico, asserts that 20,000 
were sacrificed annually, but Casas points out 
that with such a "waste of the human species," as 
is implied in some histories, the country could not 
have been so populous as Cortes found it. The es- 
timate of Casas is "that the Mexicans never sacri- 



Co EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

ficed more than fifty or a hundred persons in a 
year." 

Notwithstanding the wholesale bloodshed be- 
fore the shrines of their gory gods, we can still 
assign to the Aztecs a high degree of civilization. 
The history of even modern Europe will illustrate 
this statement, although apparently paradoxical. 

Consider "the condition of some of the most 
polished countries in the sixteenth century after 
the establishment of the modern Inquisition — an 
institution which yearly destroyed its thousands 
by a death more painful than the Aztec sacrifices, 
. . . which did more to stay the march of im- 
provement than any other scheme ever devised by 
human cunning. . . . Human sacrifice was some- 
times voluntarily embraced by the Aztecs as the 
most glorious death, and one that opened a sure 
passage into paradise. The Inquisition, on the 
other hand, branded its victims with infamy in 
this world, and consigned them to everlasting 
perdition in the next." 

The difficulty with the Aztecs is how to recon- 
cile such refinement as their extinct civilization 
showed with their savage enjoyment of bloodshed. 
"No captive was ever ransomed or spared ; all 
were sacrificed without mercy, and their flesh de- 
voured." The first of the four chief counselors of 
the empire was called the "Prince of the Deadly 
Lance," the second "Divider of Men," the third 
"Shedder of Blood," the fourth "the Lord of the 
Dark House." 

The temples were very numerous, generally 
merely pyramidal masses of clay faced with brick 
or stone. The roof was a broad area on which 
stood one or two towers, from forty to fifty feet in 



CIVILIZATION OF THE AZTECS 6 1 



height, forming the sanctuaries of the presiding 
deities, and therefore containing their images. 
Before these sanctuaries stood the dreadful stone 
of sacrifice. There were also two altars with 
sacred fires kept ever burning. 

All the religious services were public, and the 
pyramidal temples, with stairs round their mas- 
sive sides, allowed the long procession of priests 
to be visible as they ceremoniously ascended to 
perform the dread office of slaughtering the hu- 
man victims. 

Human sacrifices had not originally been a 
feature of the Aztec worship. But about 200 
years before the arrival of the Spanish invaders 
was the beginning of this religious atrocity, and 
at last no public festival was considered complete 
without some human bloodshed. 

Prescott takes as an example the great festival 
in honor of Tezcatlipoca, a handsome god of the 
second rank, called "the soul of the world," and 
endowed with perpetual youth. 

A year before the intended sacrifice, a captive, dis- 
tinguished for his personal beauty and without a blemish 
on his body, was selected. . . . Tutors took charge of him 
and instructed him how to perform his new part with be- 
coming grace and dignity. He was arrayed in a splendid 
dress, regaled with incense and with a profusion of sweet- 
scented flowers. . . . When he went abroad he was at- 
tended by a train of the royal pages, and as he halted in the 
streets to play some favorite melody, the crowd prostrated 
themselves before him, and did him homage as the repre- 
sentative of their good deity. . . . Four beautiful girls, 
bearing the names of the principal goddesses, were se- 
lected, and with them he continued to live idly, feasted at 
the banquets of the principal nobles, who paid him all the 



62 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



honors of a divinity. When at length the fatal day of 
sacrifice arrived, . . . stripped of his gaudy apparel, one 
of the royal barges transported him across a lake to a tem- 
ple which rose on its margin. . . . Hither the inhabitants 
of the capital flocked to witness the consummation of the 
ceremony. As the sad procession wound up the sides of 
the pyramid, the unhappy victim threw away his gay chap- 
lets of flowers and broke in pieces his musical instruments. 
. . . On the summit he was received by six priests, whose 
long and matted locks flowed in disorder over their sable 
robes, covered with hierolgyphic scrolls of mystic import. 
They led him to the sacrificial stone, a huge block of jasper, 
with its upper surface somewhat convex. On this the vic- 
tim was stretched. Five priests secured his head and 
limbs, while the sixth, clad in a scarlet mantle, emblematic 
of his bloody office, dexterously opened the breast of the 
wretched victim with a sharp razor of iizli, and inserting 
his hand in the wound, tore out the palpitating heart, and 
after holding it up to the sun (as representing the supreme 
God), cast it at the feet of the deity to whom the temple 
was devoted, while the multitudes below prostrated them- 
selves in humble adoration. 

Such was an instance of the human sacrifices 
for which ancient Mexico became infamous to 
the whole civilized world. 

One instance of a sacrifice differing from the 
ordinary sort is thus given by a Spanish historian : 

A captive of distinction was sometimes furnished with 
arms for single combat against a number of Mexicans in 
succession. If he defeated them all, as did occasionally 
happen, he was allowed to escape. If vanquished he was 
dragged to the block and sacrificed in the usual manner. 
The combat was fought on a huge circular stone before 
the population of the capital. 

Women captives were occasionally sacrificed 
before those bloodthirsty gods, and in a season of 



CIVILIZATION OF THE AZTECS 63 



drought even children were sometimes slaugh- 
tered to propitiate Tlaloc, the god of rain. 

Borne along in open litters, dressed in their festal robes 
and decked with the fresh blossoms of spring, they moved 
the hardest hearts to pity, though their cries were drowned 
in the wild chant of the priests who read in their tears a 
favorable augury for the rain prayer. 

One Spanish historian informs us that these 
innocent victims of this repulsive religion were 
generally bought by the priests from parents who 
were poor. 

We may now resume the traditional setttlement 
of the ancient Mexicans on the region called Ana- 
huac, including all the fertile plateau and extend- 
ing south to the lake of Nicaragua. The chief 
tribes of the race were said to have come from 
California, and after being subject to the Colhua 
people asserted their independence about A. d. 
1325. Soon afterward, their first capital, Tenoch- 
titlan, was built on the site of Mexico, their per- 
manent center. For several generations they 
lived, like their remote ancestors, the Red Men of 
the Woods, as hunters, fishers, and trappers, but 
at last their prince or chief cazique was powerful 
enough to be called king. The rule of this Aztec 
prince, beginning a. d. 1440, marked the begin- 
ning of their greatness as a race. It became a 
rule of their kingdom that every new king must 
gain a victory before being crowned ; and thus by 
the conquest of a new nation furnish a supply of 
captives to gratify their tutelary deity by the nec- 
essary human sacrifices. In 1502 the younger 
Montezuma ascended the throne. He is better 



64 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

known to us than the previous kings, because it 
was in his reign that the Spanish conquerors ap- 
peared on the scene. From the time of Cortes 
the history of the Aztecs becomes part of that of 
the Mexicans. They were easily conquered by 
the European troops, partly because of their be- 
trayal by various of the neighboring nations 
whom they had formerly conquered. At the be- 
ginning of the sixteenth century, according to 
Prescott, the Aztec king ruled the continent from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific. 

From the scientific side of their extinct civiliza- 
tion it is their knowledge of astronomy that 
chiefly causes astonishment (see also p. 85). As 
in the case of the Chaldeans and Babylonians, a 
motive for the study of the stars and planets was 
the priestly one of accurately fixing the religious 
festivals. The tropical year being thus ascer- 
tained, their tables showed the exact time of the 
equinox or sun's transit across the equatorial, and 
of the solstice. From a very early period they 
had practised agriculture, growing Indian corn 
and "Mexican aloe." Having no animals of draft, 
such as the horse, or ox, their farming was natu- 
rally of a rude and imperfect sort. 

"The degree of civilization," says Prescott, 
"which the Aztecs reached, as inferred by their 
political institutions, may be considered, perhaps, 
not much short of that enjoyed by our Saxon 
ancestors under Alfred." 

In a passage comparing the Aztecs to the 
American Indians, we read : 

The latter has something peculiarly sensitive in his 
nature. He shrinks instinctively from the rude touch 



CIVILIZATION OF THE AZTECS 65 



of a foreign hand. Even when this foreign influence 
comes in the form of civilization he seems to sink and pine 
away beneath it. It has been so with the Mexicans. Un- 
der the Spanish domination their numbers have silently 
melted away. Their energies are broken. They no longer 
tread their mountain plains with the conscious independ- 
ence of their ancestors. In their faltering step and meek 
and melancholy aspect we read the sad characters of the 
conquered race. . . . Their civilization was of the hardy 
character which belongs to the wilderness. The fierce 
virtues of the Aztec were all his own. 

Humboldt found some analogy between the 
Aztec theory of the universe, as taught by the 
priests, and the Asiatic ''cosmogonies." The Az- 
tecs, in explaining the great mystery of man's 
existence after death, believed that future time 
would revolve in great periods or cycles, each em- 
bracing thousands of years. At the end of each 
of the four cycles of future time in the present 
world, "the human family will be swept from the 
earth by the agency of one of the elements, and 
the sun blotted out from the heavens to be again 
rekindled." 

The priesthood comprised a large number who 
were skilled in astrology and divination. The 
great temple of Mexico, alone, had 5,000 priests 
in attendance, of whom the chief dignitaries su- 
perintended the dreadful rites of human sacrifice. 
Others had management of the singing choirs 
with their musical accompaniment of drums and 
other instruments ; others arranged the public 
festivals according to the calendar, and had 
charge of the hieroglyphical word-painting and 
oral traditions. One important section of the 
priesthood were teachers, responsible for the edu- 
5 



66 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

cation of the children and instruction in religion 
and morality. The head management of the hier- 
archy or whole ecclesiastical system, was under 
two high priests — the more dignified that they 
were chosen by the king and principal nobles 
without reference to birth or social station. These 
high priests were consulted on any national emer- 
gency, and in precedency of rank were superior 
to every man except the king. Montezuma is said 
to have been a priest. 

The priestly power was more absolute than 
any ever experienced in Europe. Two remark- 
able peculiarities were that when a sinner was 
pardoned by a priest, the certificate afterward 
saved the culprit from being legally punished for 
any offense ; secondly, there could be no pardon 
for an offense once atoned for if the offense were 
repeated. "Long after the conquest, the simple 
natives when they came under the arm of the law, 
sought to escape by producing the certificate of 
their former confession." (Prescott, i, 33.) 

The prayer of the priest-confessor, as reported 
by a Spanish historian, is very remarkable : 

" O, merciful Lord, thou who knowest the secrets of all 
hearts, let thy forgiveness and favor descend, like the pure 
waters of heaven, to wash away the stains from the soul. 
Thou knowest that this poor man has sinned, not from his 
own jree will, but from the influence of the sign under 
which he was born. . . . 

After enjoining on the penitent a variety of minute cere- 
monies by way of penance, the confessor urges the neces- 
sity of instantly procuring a slave for sacrifice to the Deity. 

In the schools under the clergy the boys were 
taught by priests and the girls by priestesses. 



CIVILIZATION OF THE AZTECS 67 



There was a higher school for instruction in tradi- 
tion and history, the mysteries of hieroglyphs, the 
principles of government, and certain branches of 
astronomical and natural science. 

In the education of their children the Mexican 
community were very strict, but from a letter pre- 
served by one of the Spanish historians, we can 
not doubt the womanly affection of a mother 
who thus wrote to her daughter : 

My beloved daughter, very dear little dove, you have 
already heard and attended to the words which your father 
has told you. They are precious words, which have pro- 
ceeded from the bowels and heart in which they were treas- 
ured up ; and your beloved father well knows that you, his 
daughter, begotten of him, are his blood and his flesh ; and 
God our Lord knows that it is so. Although you are a 
woman, and are the image of your father, what more can 
I say to you than has already been said? . . . My dear 
daughter, whom I tenderly love, see that you live in the 
world in peace, tranquillity, and contentment — see that you 
disgrace not yourself, that you stain not your honor, nor 
pollute the luster and fame of your ancestors. . . . May 
God prosper you, my first-born, and may you come to 
God, who is in every place.* 

Some trace of a "natural piety," which will 
probably surprise our readers, is also found in 
the ceremony of Aztec baptism, as described by 
the same writer. After the head and lips of the 
infant were touched with water and a name given 
to it, the goddess Cioacoatl was implored "that 
the sin which was given to us before the begin- 
ning of the world might not visit the child, but 

* Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva Espana, vi, 19. 



68 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



that, cleansed by these waters, it might live and 
be born anew." In Sahagun's account we read: 

When all the relations of the child were assembled, the 
midwife, who was the person that performed the rite of 
baptism, was summoned. When the sun had risen, the 
midwife, taking the child in her arms, called for a little 
earthen vessel of water. . . . To perform the rite, she 
placed herself with her face toward the west, and began to 
go through certain ceremonies. . . . After this she sprin- 
kled water on the head of the infant, saying, "O my child! 
receive the water of the Lord of the world, which is our life, 
and is given for the increasing and renewing of our body. 
It is to wash and to purify." . . . [After a piayer] she 
took the child in both hands, and lifting him toward 
heaven said, "O Lord, thou seest here thy creature whom 
thou hast sent into this world, this place of sorrow, suffer- 
ing, and penitence. Grant him, O Lord, thy gifts and 
thine inspiration." 

The science of the Aztecs has excited the 
wonder of all competent judges, such as Hum- 
boldt (already quoted) and the astronomer La 
Place. Lord Kingsborough remarks in his great 
work : 

It can hardly be doubted that the Mexicans were ac- 
quainted with many scientifical instruments of strange in- 
vention; . . . whether the telescope may not have been 
of the number is uncertain; but the thirteenth plate of M. 
Dupaix's Monuments, which represents a man holding 
something of a similar nature to his eye, affords reason to 
suppose that they knew how to improve the powers of 
vision. 

References to the calendar of the Aztecs should 
not omit the secular festival occurring at the end 
of their great cycle of fifty-two years. From the 



CIVILIZATION OF THE AZTECS 69 



length of the period, two generations, one might 
compare it with the "jubilee" of ancient Israel — ■ 
a word made familiar toward the close of Queen 
Victoria's reign. The great event always took 
place at midwinter, the most dreary period of the 
year, and when the five intercalary days arrived 
they "abandoned themselves to despair." breaking 
up the images of the gods, allowing the holy fires 
of the temples to go out, lighting none in their 
homes, destroying their furniture and domestic 
utensils, and tearing their clothes to rags. This 
disorder and gloom signified that figuratively the 
end of the world was at hand. 

On the evening of the last day, a procession of priests, 
assuming the dress and ornaments of their gods, moved 
from the capital toward a lofty mountain, about two 
leagues distant. They carried with them a noble victim, 
the flower of their captives, and an apparatus for kindling 
the new fire, the success of which was an augury of the re- 
newal of the cycle. On the summit of the mountain, the 
procession paused till midnight, when, as the constellation 
of the Pleiades* approached the zenith, the new fire was 
kindled by-the friction of some sticks placed on the breast 
of the victim. The flame was soon communicated to a 
funeral-pyre on which the body of the slaughtered captive 
was thrown. As the light streamed up toward heaven, 
shouts of joy and triumph burst forth from the countless 
multitudes who covered the hills, the terraces of the tem- 
ples, and the housetops. . . . Couriers, with torches 
lighted at the blazmg beacon, rapidly bore them over every 
part of the country. ... A new cycle had commenced its 
march. 

* A famous group of seven small stars in the Bull constella- 
tion. The " seven sisters " appear as only six to ordinary 
eyesight : to make out the seventh is a test of a practi* 0 i eye 
and excellent vision. 



70 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



The following thirteen days were given up to festivity. 
. . . The people, dressed in their gayest apparel, and 
crowned with garlands and chaplets of flowers, thronged 
in joyous procession to offer up their oblations and thanks- 
givings in the temples. Dances and games were instituted 
emblematical of the regeneration of the world. 

Prescott compares this carnival of the Aztecs 
to the great secular festival of the Romans or 
ancient Etruscans, which (as Suetonius re- 
marked) "few alive had witnessed before, or 
could expect to witness again." The ludi sczcu- 
lares or secular games of Rome were held only 
at very long intervals and lasted for three days 
and nights. 

The poet Southey thus refers to the ceremony 
of opening the new Aztec cycle, or Circle of the 
Years. 



On his bare breast the cedar boughs are laid, 
On his bare breast, dry sedge and odorous gums, 
Laid ready to receive the sacred spark, 
And blaze, to herald the ascending sun, 
Upon his living altar. Round the wretch 
The inhuman ministers of rites accurst 
Stand, and expect the signal when to strike 
The seed of fire. Their Chief, apart from all, 

. . . eastward turns his eyes; 
For now the hour draws nigh, and speedily 
He looks to see the first faint dawn of day 
Break through the orient sky. 

Modoc, u, it 



AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY 1* 



CHAPTER IV 

AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY 

Long before the time of Columbus and the 
Spanish conquest there existed on the table-land 
of Mexico two great races or nations, as has al- 
ready been shown, both highly civilized, and both 
akin in language, art, and religion. Ethnologists 
and antiquaries are not agreed as to their origin 
or the development of their civilization. Many 
recent critics have held the theory that there had 
been a previous people from whom both races 
inherited their extinct civilization, this previous 
race being the "Toltecs," whom we have repeat- 
edly mentioned in the preceding chapter. To that 
previous race some attribute the colossal stone- 
work around Lake Titicaca, as well as other sur- 
vivals of long-forgotten culture. Some would 
even class them with the "mound-builders" of 
the Ohio Valley. Other recent antiquaries, how- 
ever, while fully admitting the Aztec-Tescucan 
civilization to be real and historical, treat the Tol- 
tec theory as partly or entirely mythical. One 
writer alleges, after the manner of Max Muller, 
that the Toltecs are "simply a personification of 
the rays of light" radiating from the Aztec sun- 
god. 

Leaving abstract theories, we shall devote this 
chapter to the principal facts of American 
archeology — especially as regards the races and 
the monuments of their long extinct civilizations. 
Throughout many parts of both North and South 



72 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



America, and over large areas, the red-skinned 
natives continued their generations as their ances- 
tors had done through untold centuries, scarcely 
rising above the state of rude, uncultured sons of 
the soil living as hunters, trappers, fishers, as had 
been done immemorially 

When wild in woods the noble savage ran, 

as Dryden puts it. But in Mexico, Yucatan, and 
Central America, Colombia, and Peru there were 
men of the original redskin race who had dis- 
tinctly attained to civilization for unknown gen- 
erations before the time of Columbus. Not only 
so, but in many centers of wealth and population 
the process of social improvement and advance 
had been continuous for unrecorded ages ; and in 
certain cases a long extinct civilization had over- 
laid a previous civilization still more remotely 
extinct. Some works constructed for supplying 
water, for example, could only have been applied 
to that purpose when the climate or geological 
conditions were quite different from what they 
have always been in historical times ! 

Who is the red man? Compared in numbers 
with the yellow man, the white man, or even the 
black, he is very unimportant, being only one- 
tenth as great as the African race.* In American 
ethnology, however, the red man is all-important. 
Primeval men of this race undoubtedly formed 
the original stock whence during the centuries 
were derived all the numerous tribes of "Indians" 

* White or Caucasian 640,000,000, yellow or Mongolian 
600,000,000, black or African 200,000,000, red or American 
20,000,000. 



AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY 



73 



found in either North or South America. 
Throughout Asia and Africa there is great diver- 
sity in type among the races that are indigenous ; 
but as to America, to quote Humboldt : 

The Indians of New Spain [i. e., Mexico] bear a general 
resemblance to those who inhabit Canada, Florida, Peru, 
and Brazil. We have the same swarthy and copper color, 
straight and smooth hair, small beard, squat body, long 
eye, with the corner directed upward toward the temples, 
prominent cheek-bones, thick lips, and expression of gentle- 
ness in the mouth, strongly contrasted with a gloomy and 
severe look. 

Whence the original red men of America were 
derived it is impossible to say. The date is too 
remote and the data too few. From fossil re- 
mains of human bones, Agassiz estimated a period 
of at least ten thousand years ; and near New Or- 
leans, beneath four buried forests, a skeleton was 
found which was possibly fifty thousand years old. 
If, therefore, the redskins branched off from the 
yellow man, it must have been at a period which 
lies utterly beyond historic ken or calculation. 

Some recent ethnologists have borrowed the 
"glacier theory" from the science of geology, in 
order to trace the development of civilization 
among certain races. In Switzerland and Green- 
land the signs of the action of a glacier can be 
traced and recognized just as we trace the proofs 
of the action of water in a dry channel. Visit the 
front of a glacier in autumn after the summer heat 
has made it shrink back, you will see ( i ) rounded 
rocks, as if planed on the top, with (2) a mixed 
mass of stones and gravel like a rubbish-heap, 



74 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



scattered on (3) a mass of clay and sand, con- 
taining boulders. The same three tests are fre- 
quently found in countries where there have been 
no glaciers within the memory of man. 

Such traces, found not only in England, Scot- 
land, and Ireland, but in northern Germany and 
Denmark, prove that the mountain mass of Scan- 
dinavia was the nucleus of a huge ice-cap "radia- 
ting to a distance of not less than 1,000 miles, and 
thick enough to block up with solid ice the North 
Sea, the German Ocean, the Baltic, and even the 
Atlantic up to the 100-fathom line." In North 
America the same thing is proved by similar evi- 
dence. A gigantic ice-cap extending from Can- 
ada has glaciated all the minor mountain ranges 
to the south, sweeping over the whole continent. 
The drift and boulders still remain to prove the 
fact, as far south as only 15 0 north of the tropic. 
A warm oceanic current, like the Gulf Stream of 
the Atlantic, would shorten a glacial period. 
Speaking of Scotland, one authority states that 
"if the Gulf Stream were diverted and the High- 
lands upheaved to the height of the New Zealand 
Alps, the whole country would again be buried 
under glaciers pushing out into the seas" on the 
west and east. 

The theory is that as the climate became 
warmer, the ice-fronts retreated northward by the 
shrinking of the glaciers, and therefore the ani- 
mals, including man, were able to live farther 
north. The men of that very remote period were 
"Neolithic," and some of the stone monuments 
are attributed to them that were formerly called 
"Druidic." A recent writer asks, with reference 
to Stonehenge : 



AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY 75 



Did Neolithic men slowly coming northward, as the 
rigors of the last glacial period abated, domicile here, and 
build this huge gaunt temple before they passed farther 
north, to degrade and dwindle down into Eskimos wander- 
ing the dismal coasts of arctic seas? 

Another writer, with reference to the American 
ice-sheet, says : 

During the second glacial epoch when the great boreal 
ice-sheet covered one-half of the North American conti- 
nent, reaching as far south as the present cities of Phila- 
delphia and St. Louis, and the glaciated portions were as 
unfit for human occupation as the snow-cap of Greenland 
is to-day, aggregations of population clustered around the 
equatorial zone, because the climatic conditions were con- 
genial. And inasmuch as civilization, the world over, 
clings to the temperate climates and thrives there best, we 
are not surprised to learn that communities far advanced 
in arts and architecture built and occupied those great 
cities in Yucatan, Honduras, Guatemala, and other Cen- 
tral American states, whose populations once numbered 
hundreds of thousands. 

An approximate date when this civilization was at the 
acme of its glory would be about ten thousand years ago. 
This is established by observations upon the recession of 
the existing glacier fronts, which are known to drop back 
twelve miles in one hundred years. 

With the gradual withdrawal of the glacial ice-sheet the 
climate grew proportionately milder, and flora and fauna 
moved simultaneously northward. Some emigrants went 
to South America and settled there, carrying their customs, 
arts, ceremonial rites, hieroglyphs, architecture, etc.; and 
an immense exodus took place into Mexico, which ulti- 
mately extended westward up the Pacific coast. 

In subsequent epochs when the ice-sheet had withdrawn 
from large areas, there were immense influxes of people 
from Asia via Bering Strait on the Pacific side, and from 
northwestern Europe via Greenland on the Atlantic side. 



76 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WftST 

The Korean immigration of the year 544 led to the founding 
of the Mexican Empire in 1325. 

To trace then the gradations of ascent from 
the native American — called "Indians" by a 
blunder of the Great Admiral, as afterward they 
were nicknamed "redskins" by the English set- 
tlers — to the Mexicans, Peruvians, or Colombians 
is a task far beyond our strength. Leaving the 
question of race, therefore, we now turn to the 
antiquarian remains, especially the architectural. 

The prehistoric civilization which was devel- 
oped to the south of Mexico is generally known as 
"Mayan," although the Mayas were undoubtedly 
akin to the Aztecs or early Mexicans. The 
Maya tribes in Yucatan and Honduras, from 
abundant evidence, must have risen to a refine- 
ment in prehistoric times, which, in several re- 
spects, was superior to that of the Aztecs. In 
architecture they were in advance from the earliest 
ages not only of the Aztec peoples, but of all the 
American races. 

In Yucatan the Mayas have left some wonder- 
ful remains at Mayapan, their prehistoric capital, 
and near it at a place called Uxmal which has 
become famous from its vast and elaborate struc- 
tures,* evidencing a knowledge of art and science 
which had flourished in this region for centuries 
before the arrival of the Spanish. The chief 
building in Uxmal is in pyramidal form, the prin- 
cipal design in the ancient Aztec temples (as well 
as those of Chaldea, etc.), consisting of three ter- 
races faced with hewn stone. The terraces are 
in length 575, 545, and 360 feet respectively ; with 
* See Frontispiece. 



AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY 



77 



the temple on the summit, 322 feet, and a great 
flight of stairs leading to it. The whole building 
is surrounded by a belt of richly sculptured 
figures, above a cornice. At Chichen, also in 
Yucatan, there is an area of two miles perimeter 
entirely covered with architectural ruins ; many 
of the roofs having apparently consisted of stone 
arches, painted in various colors. One building, 
of peculiar construction, proves an enigma to all 
travelers : it is more than ninety yards long and 
consists of two parallel walls, each ten yards 
thick, the distance between them being also ten 
yards. It has been conjectured that the anoma- 
lous construction had reference to some public 
games by which the citizens amused themselves in 
that long-forgotten period. Among other me- 
morials of Mayan architecture in this country is 
the city of Tuloom on the east coast, fortified 
with strong walls and square towers. A more 
remarkable "find" in the dense forests of Chiapas, 
in the same country, is the city recorded by Ste- 
phens and other travelers. It is near the coast, 
at the place where Cortes and his Spanish sol- 
diers were moving about for a considerable time, 
yet they do not appear to have ever seen the splen- 
did ruins, or to have at all suspected their ex- 
istence. Even if the natives knew, the Spaniards 
might have found the toil of forcing a passage 
through such forests too laborious. The name of 
the city which had so long been buried under the 
tropical vegetation was quite unknown, nor was 
there any tradition of it; but when found it was 
called "Palenque," from the nearest inhabited 
village. There were substantial and handsome 
buildings with excellent masonry, and in many 



7% EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

cases beautiful sculptures and hieroglyphical 
figures. 

Merida, the capital of Yucatan, is on the site 
of a prehistoric city whose name had also become 
unknown. When building the present town, the 
Spaniards utilized the ancient buildings as quar- 
ries for good stones. 

The larger prehistoric structures are frequently 
on artificial mounds, being probably intended for 
religious or ceremonial purposes. The walls both 
within and without are elaborately decorated, 
sometimes with symbolic figures. Sometimes 
officials in ceremonial costumes are seen appar- 
ently performing religious rites. These are often 
accompanied by inscriptions in low relief, with 
the peculiar Mayan characters which some 
archeologists call "calculi form hieroglyphs" (v. 

P . 82). 

On one of the altar-slabs near Palenque there 
occurs a sculptured group 

of several figures in the act of making offerings to a central 
object shaped like the Latin cross. "The Latin, the Greek, 
and the Egyptian cross or tau (T) were evidently sacred 
symbols to this ancient people, bearing some religious 
meanings derived from their own cult."* 

The cross occurs frequently, not only in the 
Mayan sculptures, but also in the ceremonial of 
the Aztecs. The Spanish followers of Cortes 
were astonished to see this symbol used by these 
"barbarians," as they called them. Winsor (i, 
195) says that the Mayan cross has been ex- 
plained to mean "the four cardinal points, the 



* D. G. Brinton. 



AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY 79 



rain-b ringers, the symbol of life and health" ; and 
again, "the emblem of fire, indeed an ornamental 
fire-drill." 

Students of architecture find a rudimentary 
form of the arch occurring in some of the ruins, 
notably at Palenque. Two walls are built paral- 
lel to each other, at some distance apart, then at 
the beginning of the arch the layers on both sides 
have the inner stones slightly projecting, each 
layer projecting a little more than the previous 
one, till at a certain height the stones of one wall 
are almost touching those of the wall opposite. 
Finally, a single flat stone closes in the space be- 
tween and completes the arch. 

In Honduras, on the banks of the Copan, the 
Spaniards found a prehistoric capital in ruins, on 
an elevated area, surrounded by substantial walls 
built of dressed stones, and enclosing large 
groups of buildings. One structure is mainly 
composed of huge blocks of polished stone. In 
several houses the whole of the external surface 
is covered with elaborate carved designs: 

The adjacent soil is covered with sculptured obelisks, 
pillars, and idols, with finely dressed stones, and with 
blocks ornamented with skilfully carved figures of the char- 
acteristic Maya hieroglyphs, which, could they be de- 
ciphered, would doubtless reveal the story of this strange 
and solitary city. 

In western Guatemala, at Utatla, the ancient 
capital of the Quiches, a tribe allied to the Mayas, 
several pyramids still remain. One is 120 feet 
high, surmounted by a stone wall, and another is 
ascended by a staircase of nineteen steps, each 
nineteen inches in height. 



So EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

The literary remains (such as Alphabets, 
Hieroglyphs, Manuscripts, etc.) of the Maya and 
Aztec races are in some respects as vivid a proof 
of the extinct civilizations as any of the archi- 
tectural monuments already discussed. Both 
Aztecs and Mayans of Yucatan and Central 
America used picture-writing, and sometimes an 
imperfect form of hieroglyphics. The most ele- 
mentary kind was simply a rough sketch of a 
scene or historical group which they wished to 
record. When, for example, Cortes had his first 
interview with some messengers sent by Mon- 
tezuma, one of the Aztecs was observed sketch- 
ing the dress and appearance of the Spaniards, 
and then completing his picture by using colors. 
Even in recent times Indians have recorded facts 
by pictographs: in Harper's Magazine (August, 
1902) we read that ''pictographs and painted 
rocks to the number of over 3,000 are scat- 
tered all over the United States, from the Digh- 
ton Rock, Massachusetts (v. pp. 27, 28), to the 
Kern River Canon in California, and from the 
Florida Cape to the Mouse River in Manitoba. 
The identity of the Indians with their ancient 
progenitors is further proved by relics, mortuary 
customs, linguistic similarities, plants and veg- 
etables, and primitive industrial and mechanical 
arts, which have remained constant throughout 
the ages." The pictographs of the Kern River 
Canon, according to the same writer, were in- 
scribed on the rocks there "about five thousand 
years ago." 

A more advanced form of picture-writing is 
frequently found in the Mayan and other inscrip- 
tions and manuscripts. Two objects are repre- 



AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY 8l 



sented, whose names, when pronounced together, 
give a sound which suggests the name to be re- 
corded or remembered. Thus, the name Glad- 
stone may be expressed in this manner by two 
pictures, one a laughing face (i. e., "happy" or 
"glad" the other a rock (i. e., "stone"). It is ex- 
actly the same contrivance that is used to con- 
struct the puzzle called a "rebus." 

A third form of hieroglyphic was by devising 
some conventional mafk or symbol to suggest the 
initial sound of the name to be recorded. Such 
a mark or character would be a "letter," in fact ; 
and thus the prehistoric alphabets were arrived 
at, not only among the early Mayans of Yucatan, 
etc., but among the prehistoric peoples of Asia, 
as the Chinese, the Hittites, etc., as well as the 
primeval Egyptians. Many of the sculptures in 
Copan and Palenque to which we have referred 
contain pictographs and hieroglyphs. A Spanish 
Bishop of Yucatan drew up a Mayan alphabet in 
order to express the hieroglyphs on monuments 
and manuscripts in Roman letters ; but much 
more data are needed before scholars will read 
the ancient Mayan-Aztec tongues as they have 
been enabled to understand the Egyptian inscrip- 
tions or the cuneiform records of Babylonia. 
For the American hieroglyphs we still lack a sec- 
ond Young or Champollion. 

There are three famous manuscripts in the 
Mayan character: 

1. The Dresden Codex, preserved in the Royal 
Library of that city. It is called a "religious and 
astrological ritual" by Abbe Brasseur. 

2. Codex Troano, in Madrid, described in two 
folios by Abbe Brasseur. 

6 



52 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



3. Codex Peresianus, named from the wrap- 
per in which it was found, 1859, which had the 
name "Perez." It is also known as Codex Mexi- 
canus. 

In Lord Kingsborough's great work on Mexi- 
can Antiquities there are several of the Mayan 
manuscripts printed in facsimile, and others in a 
book by M. Aubin, of Paris. 

Each group of letters in a Mayan inscription 
is enclosed in an irregular oval, supposed to re- 
semble the cross-section of a pebble; hence the 
term calculi farm (i. e., "pebble-shaped") is ap- 
plied to their hieroglyphs, as cuneiform (i. e., 
"wedge-shaped") is applied to the Babylonian 
and Assyrian letters. 

The paper which the prehistoric Mexicans 
(Mayas, Aztecs, or Tescucans, etc.) used for 
writing and drawing upon was of vegetable 
origin, like the Egyptian papyrus. It was made 
by macerating the leaves of the maguey, a plant 
of the greatest importance (v. p. 94). When 
the surface of the paper was glazed, the letters 
were painted on in brilliant colors, proceeding 
from left to right, as we do. Each book was a 
strip of paper, several yards long and about ten 
inches wide, not rolled round a stick, as the vol- 
umes of ancient Rome were, but folded zigzag, 
like a screen. The protecting boards which held 
the book were often artistically carved and 
painted. 

The topics of the ordinary books, so far as we 
yet know, were religious ritual, dreams, and pro- 
phecies, the calendar, chronological notes, medical 
superstitions, portents of marriage and birth. 
The written language was in common and ex- 



AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY 83 



tensive use for the legal conveyance and sale of 
property. 

One of the most remarkable facts connected 
with this extinct civilization was the accuracy of 
their calendar and chronological system. Their 
calendar was actually superior to that then exist- 
ing in Europe. They had two years : one for civil 
purposes, of three hundred and sixty-five days, 
divided into eighteen months of twenty days, be- 
sides five supplementary days ; the other, a ritual 
or ecclesiastical year, to regulate the public fes- 
tivals. The civil year required thirteen days to be 
added at the end of every fifty-two years, so as 
to harmonize with the ritual year. Each month 
contained four weeks of five days, but as each of 
the twenty days (forming a month) had a distinct 
name, Humboldt concluded that the names were 
borrowed from a prehistoric calendar used in 
India and Tartary. 

Wilson (Prehistoric Man, i, 133) remarks: 

By the unaided results of native science the dwellers on 
the Mexican plateau had effected an adjustment of civil 
to solar time so nearly correct that when the Spaniards 
landed on their coast, their own reckoning according to the 
unreformed Julian calendar, was really eleven days in er- 
ror, compared with that of the barbarian nation whose 
civilization they so speedily effaced. 

In 1790 there was found in the Square of 
Mexico a famous relic, the Mexican Calendar 
Stone, "one of the most striking monuments of 
American antiquity." It was long supposed to 
have been intended for chronological purposes ; 
but later authorities call it a votive tablet or 
sacrificial altar.* Similar circular stones have 
* Pp. 68-70, v. p. 95. 



84 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



been dug up in other parts of Mexico and in 
Yucatan. 

Both the Mayas and the Aztecs excelled in the 
ordinary arts of civilized life. Paper-making has 
already been spoken of. Cotton being an im- 
portant produce of their soil, they understood its 
spinning, dyeing, and weaving so well that the 
Spaniards mistook some of the finer Aztec fabrics 
for silk. They cultivated maize, potatoes, plan- 
tains, and other vegetables. Both in Mexico and 
Yucatan they produced beautiful work in feath- 
ers ; metal working was not so important as in 
some countries, being chiefly for ornamental pur- 
poses. In fact, it was the comparative plenty of 
gold and silver around Mexico that delayed the 
invasion of the Mayan country for more than 
twenty years. The Mayas had developed trade 
to a considerable extent before the Spanish in- 
vasion, and interchanged commodities with the 
island of Cuba. It was there, accordingly, that 
Columbus first saw this people, and first heard of 
Yucatan. 

Of the Mexican remains on the central plateau, 
the most conspicuous is the mound or pyramid of 
Cholula, although it retains few traces of pre- 
historic art. A modern church with a dome and 
two towers now occupies the summit, with a 
paved road leading up to it. It is chiefly noted, 
first, by antiquaries, as having originally been a 
great temple of Quetzalcoatl, the beneficent deity, 
famous in story; and, secondly, for the fierce 
struggle around the mound and on the slopes be- 
tween the Mexicans and Spanish. (V. pp. ijo- 
J 33-) 

Another mound in this district, Yochicalco, lies 



AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY 85 



seventy-five miles southwest of the capital. It is 
considered one of the best memorials of the ex- 
tinct civilization, consisting of five terraces sup- 
ported by stone walls, and formerly surmounted 
by a pyramid. 

Passing from the traces of Aztec and Mayan 
civilization, we may now glance at the antiquities 
of the Colombian states. There are no temples 
or large structures, because the natives, before the 
Spanish conquest, used timber for building, but 
owing to the abundance of gold in their brooks 
and rivers, they developed skill in gold-working, 
and produced fine ornaments of wonderful beauty. 
Many hollow figures have been found, evidently 
cast from molds, representing men, beasts, and 
birds, etc. Stone-cutting was also an art of this 
ancient race, sometimes applied to making idols 
bearing hieroglyphs. 

When the Spaniards invaded them to take their 
gold and precious stones, the "Chibchas," who 
then held the Colombian table-land and valleys, 
threw large quantities of those valuables into a 
lake near Bogota, the capital. It was afterward 
attempted to recover those treasures by draining 
off the water, but only a small portion was found ; 
and in the present year ( 1903) a new engineering 
attempt has been made. A Spanish writer, in 
1858, asserted that evidence was found in the 
caves and mines that in ancient times the Colom- 
bians produced an alloy of gold, copper, and iron 
having the temper and hardness of steel. On a 
tributary of the River Magdalena there are many 
curious stone images, sometimes with grotesquely 
carved faces. 
Turning next to the mound-builders, in the 



86 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

Ohio and upper Mississippi Valley, we find 
traces of an extinct civilization in high mounds, 
evidently artificial, extensive embankments, broad 
deep ditches, terraced pyramids, and an interest- 
ing variety of stone implements and pottery. 
Some mounds were for burial-places, others for 
sacrificial purposes, others again as a site for 
building, like those we have seen in Mexico and 
Maya. Many enclosures contain more than fifty 
acres of land ; and one embankment is fifty miles 
long. Among the relics associated with those 
works are articles of pottery, knives, and copper 
ornaments, hammered silver, mica, obsidian, 
pearls, beautifully sculptured pipes, shells, and 
stone implements. The mounds found in some of 
the Gulf States seem to confirm a theory that the 
mound-builders were the ancestors of the Choc- 
taw Indians and their allies, and had been driven 
southward. 

In the lower Mississippi Valley, eastward to 
the seacoast, there are many large earthworks, 
including round and quadrilateral mounds, em- 
bankments, canals, and artificial lakes. Similar 
works can be traced to the southern extremity of 
Florida. Some were constructed as sites for large 
buildings. The tribes to whom they are due are 
now known to have been agricultural — growing 
maize, beans, and pumpkins ; with these products 
and those of the chase they supported a consid- 
erable population. 

Among other antiquarian remains in America 
are the cliff-houses and "pueblos." The former 
peculiarity is explained by the deep canons of the 
dry table-land of Colorado. Imagine a narrow 
deep cutting or narrow trench worn by water- 



AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY 



87 



courses out of solid rock, deep enough to afford a 
channel to the stream from 500 to 1,500 feet be- 
low the plateau above. Next imagine one of the 
caves which the water many ages ago had worn 
out of the perpendicular sides of the canon ; and 
in that cave a substantial, well-built structure of 
cut stones bedded in 
firm mortar. Such are 
the "cliff - houses," 
sometimes of two sto- 
ries. Occasionally 
there is a watch-tower 
perched on a conspic- 
uous point of rock 
near a cliff-dwelling, 
with small windows 
looking to the east and 
north. These curious 
buildings, though now 
prehistoric, in a sense, 
are believed by arche- 
ologists to be later than 
the Spanish conquest. 

Peru is very impor- 
tant archeologically, 
but some interesting 
points will properly 
fall under our general 
account of that country and its conquest by 
Spain. 

In Peruvian architecture, we find "Cyclopean 
walls," with polygonal stones of five or six feet 
diameter, so well polished and adjusted that no 
mortar was necessary ; sometimes with a project- 
ing part of the stone fitting exactly into a corre- 




Chulpa or Stone Tomb of the 
Peruvians. 



88 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

sponding cavity of the stone immediately above 
or below it. Such huge stones are of hard granite 
or basalt, etc. The walls are often very massive 
and substantial, sometimes from thirty to forty 
feet in thickness. The only approach to the 
modern "arch" in the Peruvian structures is a 
device similar to that which was described under 
the Mayan architecture. 

Some important buildings were surrounded 
with large upright stones, similar to the famous 
"Druidic" temple at Stonehenge. All of the chief 
structures were accurately placed with reference 
to the cardinal points, and the main entrance al- 
ways faced the east. The Peruvian tombs were 
very elaborate, one kind being made by cutting 
caverns in the steep precipices of the cordillera 
and then carefully walling in the entrance. An- 
other variety (the chulpa) was really a stone 
tower erected above ground, twelve to thirty feet 
high. The chulpas were sometimes built in 
groups. 



CHAPTER V 

MEXICO BEFORE THE SPANISH INVASION 

The Aztecs and the Tescucans were the chief 
races occupying the great table-land of Anahuac, 
including, as we have seen, the famous Mexican 
Valley. In the preceding chapter we have set 
forth some of the leading points in the extinct 
civilization of those races, and also that of the 
Mayas, who in several respects were perhaps 
superior to the Anahuac kingdoms. 



MEXICO BEFORE THE INVASION 89 

Several features of the early Mexican civiliza- 
tion will come before us as we accompany the 
European conquerors in their march over the 
table-land. Meantime, we glance first at the 
geography of this magnificent region, and sec- 
ondly at the manners and institutions of the peo- 
ple, their industrial arts, etc., and their terrible 
religion. The last-mentioned topic has already 
been partly discussed in Chapter III. 

The Tropic of Cancer passes through the mid- 
dle of Mexico, and therefore its southern half, 
which is the most important, is all under the 
burning sun of the "torrid zone." This heat, 
however, is greatly modified by the height of the 
surface above sea-level, since the country, taken 
as a whole, is simply an extensive table-land. 
The height of the plain in the two central states, 
Mexico and Puebla, is 8,000 feet, or about double 
the average height of the highest summits in the 
British Isles. On the west of the republic is a 
continuous chain of mountains, and on the east 
of the table-land run a series of mountainous 
groups parallel to the seacoast, with a summit in 
Vera Cruz of over 13,400 feet. To the south 
of the capital an irregular range running east and 
west contains these remarkable volcanoes — Co- 
lima, 14,400 feet; Jorulla, Popocatepetl, 17,800; 
Orizaba (extinct), 18,300, the highest summit in 
Mexico, and, with the exception of some of the 
mountains of Alaska, in North America. The 
great plateau-basin formed around the capital and 
its lakes is completely enclosed by mountains. 

This high table-land has its own climate as 
compared with the broad tract lying along the 
Atlantic. Hence the latter is known as the hot 



9° EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



region (caliente), and the former the cold region 
( fria) . Between the two climates, as the traveler 
mounts from the sea-level to the great plateau, is 
the temperate region (templada), an intermediate 
belt of perpetual humidity, a welcome escape 
from the heat and deadly malaria of the hot 
region with its "bilious fevers." Sometimes as 
he passes along the bases of the volcanic moun- 
tains, casting his eye "down some steep slope or 
almost unfathomable ravine on the margin of the 
road, he sees their depths glowing with the rich 
blooms and enameled vegetation of the tropics." 
This contrast arises from the height he has now 
gained above the hot coast region. 

The climate on the table-land is only cold in a 
relative sense, being mild to Europeans, with a 
mean temperature at the capital of 6o°, seldom 
lowered to the freezing-point. The "temperate" 
slopes form the "Paradise of Mexico," from "the 
balmy climate, the magnificent scenery, and the 
wealth of semitropical vegetation." 

The Aztec and Tescucan laws were kept in 
state records, and shown publicly in hieroglyphs. 
The great crimes against society were all punished 
with death, including the murder of a slave. 
Slaves could hold property, and all their sons 
were freedmen. The code in general showed real 
respect for the leading principles of morality. 

In Mexico, as in ancient Egypt, 

the soldier shared with the priest the highest consideration. 
The king must be an experienced warrior. The tutelary 
deity of the Aztecs was the god of war. A great object of 
military expeditions was to gather hecatombs of captives 
for his altars. The soldier who fell in battle was trans- 
ported at once to the region of ineffable bliss in the bright 



MEXICO BEFORE THE INVASION 9 1 



mansions of the sun. . . . Thus every war became a cru- 
sade; and the warrior was not only raised to a contempt 
of danger, but courted it — animated by a religious enthu- 
siasm like that of the early Saracen or the Christian cru- 
Bader. 

The officers of the armies wore rich and con- 
spicuous uniforms — a tight-fitting tunic of quilted 
cotton sufficient to turn the arrows of the native 
Indians ; a cuirass (for superior officers) made of 
thin plates of gold or silver ; an overcoat or cloak 
of variegated f eather-work ; helmets of wood or 
silver, bearing showy plumes, adorned with pre- 
cious stones and gold ornaments. Their belts, col- 
lars, bracelets, and earrings were also of gold or 
silver. 

Southey, in his poem, makes his Welsh prince, 
Madoc, thus boast : 

Their mail, if mail it may be called, was woven 

Of vegetable down, like finest flax, 

Bleached to the whiteness of new-fallen snow, 

. . Others of higher office were arrayed 
In feathery breastplates, of more gorgeous hue 
Than the gay plumage of the mountain-cock, 
Than the pheasants' glittering pride. But what were these 
Or what the thin gold hauberk, when opposed 
To arms like ours in battle? 

Madoc, i, 7. 

We learn of the ancient Mexicans, to their 
honor, that in the large towns hospitals were 
kept for the cure of the sick and wounded sol- 
diers, and as a permanent refuge if disabled. Not 
only so, says a Spanish historian, but "the sur- 
geons placed over them were so far better than 
those in Europe that they did not protract the 
cure to increase the pay." 



92 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



Even the red man of the woods, as we learn 
from Fenimore Cooper and Catlin, believes rev- 
erently in the Great Spirit who upholds the uni- 
verse ; and similarly his more civilized brother of 
Mexico or Tezcuco spoke of a Supreme Creator, 
Lord of Heaven and Earth. In their prayers 
some of the phrases were : 

The God by whom we live, omnipresent, knowing all 
thoughts, giving all gifts, without whom man is nothing, 
invisible, incorporeal, of perfect perfection and purity, un- 
der whose wings we find repose and a sure defense. 

Prescott, however, remarks that notwithstand- 
ing such attributes "the idea of unity — of a being 
with whom volition is action, who has no need 
of inferior ministers to execute his purposes — 
was too simple, or too vast, for their understand- 
ings ; and they sought relief, as usual, in a 
plurality of deities, who presided over the ele- 
ments, the changes of the seasons, and the various 
occupations of man." 

The Aztecs, in fact, believed in thirteen dii 
majores and over 200 dii minores. To each of 
these a special day was assigned in the calendar, 
with its appropriate festival. Chief of them all 
was that bloodthirsty monster Huitzilopochtli, the 
hideous god of war — tutelary deity of the nation. 
There was a huge temple to him in the capital, 
and on the great altar before his image there, and 
on all his altars throughout the empire, the reek- 
ing blood of thousands of human victims was be- 
ing constantly poured out. 

The terrible name of this Mexican Mars has 
greatly puzzled scholars of the language. Ac- 
cording to one derivation, the name is a com- 



MEXICO BEFORE THE INVASION 93 



pound of two words, humming-bird and on the 
left, because his image has the feathers of that 
bird on the left foot. Prescott naturally thinks 
that "too amiable an etymology for so ruffian a 
deity." The other name of the war-god, Mexitl 
(i. e., "the hare of the aloes"), is much better 




QuetzalcoatL 



known, because from it is derived the familiar 
name of the capital. 

The god of the air, Quetzalcoatl, a beneficent 
deity, who taught Mexicans the use of metals, 
agriculture, and the arts of government. Prescott 
remarks that 

he was doubtless one of those benefactors of their species 
who have been deified by the gratitude of posterity. 

There was a remarkable tradition of Quetzal- 
coatl, preserved among the Mexicans, that he had 
been a king, afterward a god, and had a temple 



94 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



dedicated to his worship at Cholula * when on 
his way to the Mexican Gulf. Embarking there, 
he bade his people a long farewell, promising 
that he and his descendants would revisit them. 
The expectation of his return prepared the way 
for the success of the tall white-skinned invaders. 

In the Aztec agriculture, the staple plant was 
of course the maize or Indian corn. Humboldt 
tells us that at the conquest it was grown through- 
out America, from the south of Chile to the River 
St. Lawrence ; and it is still universal in the New 
World. Other important plants on the Aztec 
soil were the banana, which (according to one 
Spanish writer) was the forbidden fruit that 
tempted our poor mother Eve; the cacao, whose 
fruit supplies the valuable chocolate; the vanilla, 
used for flavoring; and most important of all, 
the maguey, or Mexican aloe, much valued be- 
cause its leaves were manufactured into paper, 
and its juice by fermentation becomes the na- 
tional intoxicant, "pulque." The maguey, or 
great Mexican aloe, grown all over the table- 
land, is called "the miracle of nature," pro- 
ducing not only the pulque, but supplying thatch 
for the cottages, thread and cords from its tough 
fiber, pins and needles from the thorns which 
grow on the leaves, an excellent food from its 
roots, and writing-paper from its leaves. One 
writer, after speaking of the "pulque" being made 
from the "maguey," adds, "with what remains of 
these leaves they manufacture excellent and very 
fine cloth, resembling holland or the finest linen." 

The itztli, formerly mentioned as being used 
at the sacrifices by the officiating priest, was 

* The ruins were referred to in chap, iv, {v. p. 84, also 130.) 



MEXICO BEFORE THE INVASION 95 



"obsidian," a dark transparent mineral, of the 
greatest hardness, and therefore useful for ma- 
king knives and razors. The Mexican sword was 
serrated, those of the finest quality being of course 
edged with itztli. Sculptured figures abounded 
in every Aztec temple and town, but in design 
very inferior to the ancient specimens of Egypt 
and Babylonia, not to mention Greece. A re- 
markable collection of their sculptured images 
occurred in the place or great square of Mexico — 
the Aztec forum — and similar spots. Ever since 
the Spanish invasion the destruction of the native 
objects of art has been ceaseless and ruthless. 
''Two celebrated bas-reliefs of the last Monte- 
zuma and his father," says Prescott, "cut in the 
solid rock, in the beautiful groves of Chapoltepec, 
were deliberately destroyed, as late as the last 
century [i. e., the eighteenth], by order of the 
government." He further remarks : 

This wantonness of destruction provokes the bitter 
animadversion of the Spanish writer Martyr, whose en- 
lightened mind respected the vestiges of civilization wher- 
ever found. "The conquerors," says he, "seldom repaired 
the buildings that they defaced; they would rather sack 
twenty stately cities than erect one good edifice." 

The pre-Columbian Mexicans inherited a prac- 
tical knowledge of mechanics and engineering. 
The Calendar Stone, for example (spoken of in 
the preceding chapter), a mass of dark porphyry 
estimated at fifty tons weight, was carried for a 
distance of many leagues from the mountains be- 
yond Lake Chalco, through a rough country 
crossed by rivers and canals. In the passage its 
weight broke down a bridge over a canal, and the 



96 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



heavy rock had to be raised from the water be- 
neath. With such obstacles, without the draft 
assistance of horses or cattle, how was it possible 
to effect such a transport ? Perhaps the mechan- 
ical skill of their builders and engineers had con- 
trived some tramway or other machinery. An 
English traveler had a curious suggestion : 

Latrobe accommodates the wonders of nature and art 
very well to each other, by suggesting that these great 
masses of stone were transported by means of the mastodon, 
whose remains are occasionally disinterred in the Mexican 
Valley. 

The Mexicans wove many kinds of cotton 
cloth, sometimes using as a dye the rich crimson 
of the cochineal insect. They made a more ex- 
pensive fabric by interweaving the cotton with 
the fine hair of rabbits and other animals ; some- 
times embroidering with pretty designs of flowers 
and birds, etc. The special art of the Aztec 
weaver was in feather-work, which when brought 
to Europe produced the highest admiration : 

With feathers they could produce all the effect of a beau- 
tiful mosaic. The gorgeous plumage of the tropical birds, 
especially of the parrot tribe, afforded every variety of 
color; and the fine down of the humming-bird, which 
reveled in swarms among the honeysuckle bowers of Mex- 
ico, supplied them with soft aerial tints that gave an ex- 
quisite finish to the picture. The feathers, pasted on a 
fine cotton web, were wrought into dresses for the wealthy, 
hangings for apartments, and ornaments for the temples. 

When some of the Mexican feather-work was 
shown at Strasbourg: "Never," says one ad- 
mirer, "did I behold anything so exquisite for 



MEXICO BEFORE THE INVASION 97 



brilliancy and nice gradation of color, and for 
beauty of design. No European artist could have 
made such a thing." 

Instead of shops the Aztecs had in every town 
a market-place, where fairs were held every fifth 
day — i. e., once a week. Each commodity had a 
particular quarter, and the traffic was partly by 
barter, and partly by using the following articles 
as money: bits of tin shaped like an Egyptian 
cross (T), bags of cacao holding a specified 
number of grains, and, for large values, quills of 
gold-dust. 

The married women among the Aztecs were 
treated kindly and respectfully by their husbands. 
The feminine occupations were spinning and em- 
broidery, etc., as among the ancient Greeks, 
while listening to ballads and love stories related 
by their maidens and musicians (Ramusio, iii, 

3°5)° 

In banquets and other social entertainments the 
women had an equal share with the men. Some- 
times the festivities were on a large scale, with 
costly preparations and numerous attendants. 
The Mexicans, ancient and modern, have always 
been passionately fond of flowers, and on great 
occasions not only were the halls and courts 
strewed and adorned in profusion with blossoms 
of every hue and sweet odor, but perfumes 
scented every room. The guests as they sat down 
found ewers of water before them and cotton 
napkins, since washing the hands both before and 
after eating was a national habit of almost re- 
ligious obligation.* Modern Europeans believe 

* Sahagun (vi, 22) quotes the precise instructions of a father 
to his son : he must wash face and hands before sitting down 

7 



98 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

that tobacco was introduced from America in the 
time of Queen Isabella and Queen Elizabeth, but 
ages before that period the Aztecs at their ban- 
quets had the "fragrant weed" offered to the 
company, "in pipes, mixed up with aromatic sub- 
stances, or in the form of cigars, inserted in tubes 
of tortoise-shell or silver." The smoke after din- 
ner was no doubt preliminary to the siesta or nap 
of "forty winks." It is not known if the Aztec 
ladies, like their descendants in modern Mexico, 
also appreciated the yetl, as the Mexicans called 
"tobacco." Our word came from the natives of 
Hayti, one of the islands discovered by Columbus. 

The tables of the Aztecs abounded in good 
food — various dishes of meat, especially game, 
fowl, and fish. The turkey, for example, was in- 
troduced into Europe from Mexico, although 
stupidly supposed to have come from Asia. The 
French named it coq d' In.de* the "Indian cock," 
meaning American, but the ordinary hearer im- 
agined d'Inde meant from Hindustan. The blun- 
der arose from that misapplication of the word 
"Indian," first made by Columbus, as we formerly 
explained. 

The Aztec cooks dressed their viands with va- 
rious sauces and condiments, the more solid dishes 
being followed by fruits of many kinds, as well as 
sweetmeats and pastry. Chafing-dishes even were 
used. Besides the varieties of beautiful flowers 

to table, and must not leave till he has repeated the operation 
and cleansed his teeth. 

*The Spanish named this handsome bird gallopavo (Lzt.pavo, 
the "peacock"). The wild turkey is larger and more beauti- 
ful than the tame, and therefore Benjamin Franklin, when 
speaking sarcastically of the " American Eagle," insisted that 
the wild turkey was the proper national emblem. 



MEXICO BEFORE THE INVASION 99 



which adorned the table there were sculptured 
vases of silver and sometimes gold. At table 

the favorite beverage was the chocolatl flavored with vanilla 
and different spices. The fermented juice of the maguey, 
with a mixture of sweets and acids, supplied also various 
agreeable drinks, of different degrees of strength. 

When the young Mexicans of both sexes 
amused themselves with dances, the older people 
kept their seats in order to enjoy their pulque and 
gossip, or listen to the discourse of some guest of 
importance. The music which accompanied the 
dances was frequently soft and rather plaintive. 

The early Mexicans included the Tezcucans as 
well as the Aztecs proper ; and since their capitals 
were on the same lake and both races were closely 
akin, we may devote some space to these Alco- 
huans or eastern Aztecs. Their civilization was 
superior to that of the western Aztecs in some 
respects, and Nezahual-coyotl, their greatest 
prince, formed alliance with the western state, 
and then remodeled the various departments of 
his government. He had a council of war, an- 
other of finance, and a third of justice. 

A remarkable institution, under King Neza- 
hual-coyotl, was the "Council of Music," intended 
to promote the study of science and the practise 
of art. 

Tezcuco, in fact, became the nursery not only 
of such sciences as could be compassed by the 
scholarship of the period, but of various useful 
and ornamental arts. "Its historians, orators, 
and poets were celebrated throughout the coun- 
try. ... Its idiom, more polished than the 
Mexican, continued long after the conquest to be 



ioo EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

that in which the best productions of the native 
races were composed. Tezcuco was the Athens 
of the Western World. . . . Among the most 
illustrious of her bards was their king himself." 
A Spanish writer adds that it was to the eastern 
Aztecs that noblemen sent their sons "to study 
poetry, moral philosophy, the heathen theology, 
astronomy, medicine, and history." 

The most remarkable problem connected with 
ancient Mexico is how to reconcile the general 




Ancient Bridge near Tezcuco. 



refinement and civilization with the sacrifices of 
human victims. There was no town or city but 
had its temples in public places, with stairs visibly 
leading up to the sacrificial stone, ever standing 
ready before some hideous idol or other — as al- 
ready described. 

In all countries there have been public spec- 
tacles of bloodshed, not only as in the gladiators 
in the ancient circus — 

butchered to make a Roman holiday, 

or the tournays of the middle ages, but in the 



MEXICO BEFORE THE INVASION IOI 



prize-ring fights and public executions by ax or 
guillotine, of the age that is just passing away. 
The thousands who perished for religious ideas 
by means of the Holy Roman Inquisition should 
not be overlooked by the Spanish writers who 
are so indignant that Montezuma and his priests 
sacrificed tens of thousands under the claims of 
a heathen religion. The very day on which we 
write these words, August 18th, is the anniver- 
sary of the last sentence for beheading passed by 
our House of Lords. By that sentence three 
Scottish "Jacobites" passed under the ax on 
Tower Hill, where their remains still rest in a 
chapel hard by. So lately as 1873, the Shah of 
Persia, when resident as a visitor in Buckingham 
Palace, was amazed to find that the laws of 
Great Britain prevented him from depriving five 
of his courtiers of their lives. They had just 
been found guilty of some paltry infringement of 
Persian etiquette. During the last generation 
or the previous one, both in England and Scot- 
land, the country schoolmaster on a certain day 
had the schoolroom cleared so that the children 
and their friends should enjoy the treat of seeing 
all the game-cocks of the parish bleeding on the 
floor one after another, being either struck by a 
spur to the brain, or else wounded to a painful 
death. When James Boswell and others regularly 
attended the spectacles of Tyburn and sometimes 
cheered the wretched victim if he "died game," 
the philosopher will not wonder at the populace 
of some city of ancient Mexico crowding round 
the great temple and greedily watching the 
bloody sacrifice done with full sanction of the 
priesthood and the king. 



102 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



The primitive religions were derived from sun- 
worship, and as fire is the nearest representative 
of the sun, it seemed essential to burn the victim 
offered as a sacrifice. At Carthage, the great 
Phenician colony, children were cruelly sacrificed 
by fire to the god Melkarth of Tyre. "Melkarth" 
being simply Melech Kiriath (i. e., "King of the 
City"), and therefore identical with the "Mo- 
loch" or "Molech" of the Ammonites, Moabites, 
and Israelites. In the earliest prehistoric age the 
children of Ammon, Moab, and Israel were ap- 
parently so closely akin that they had practically 
the same religion and worshiped the same idols. 
The tribal god was originally the god of Syria 
or Canaan. In more than a dozen places of the 
Old Testament we find the Hebrews accused of 
burning their children or passing them through 
the fire to the sun-god, but the ancient Mexicans 
did not burn their victims, and in no- case were the 
victims their <own children. The victims were cap- 
tives taken in war, or persons convicted of crime ; 
and thus the Mexicans were in atrocity far sur- 
passed by those races akin to the Hebrews who 
are much denounced by the sacred writers, e. g. : 

Josiah . . . defiled Topheth that no man might make 
his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech 
(2 Kings xxiii, 10). 

They have built also the high places to burn their sons 
with fire for burnt-offerings (Jer. xix, 5). 

Yea, they shed innocent blood, even the blood of their 
sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the 
idols of Canaan (Ps. cvi, 37). 

That a father should offer his own child as a 
sacrifice to the sun-god or any other, would to 



MEXICO BEFORE THE INVASION 103 



the mild and gentle Aztec be too dreadful a con- 
ception. It is the enormous number who were 
immolated that shocks the European mind, but 
to the populace enjoying the spectacle the victims 
were enemies of the king or criminals deserving 
execution. 

Perhaps it is a more difficult problem to explain 
how so civilized a community as the Aztec races 
undoubtedly were could look with complacency 
upon any one tasting a dish composed of some 
part of the captive he had taken in battle. It is 
not only repulsive as an idea, but seems impos- 
sible. Yet much depends on the point of view 
as well as the atmosphere. According to archeol- 
ogists, all the primeval races of men could at a 
pinch feed on human flesh, but after many genera- 
tions learned to do better without it. We may 
have simply outgrown the craving, till at last we 
call it unnatural, whereas those ancient Mexicans, 
with all their wealth of food, had refined upon it. 
Let us again refer to the Old Testament : 

Thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters and these 
hast thou sacrificed to be devoured (Ezek. xvi, 20). 

. . . have caused their sons to pass for them through 
the fire, to devour them (Ezek. xxiii, 37). 

We may therefore infer that to the early races 
of Canaan (including Israel), as well as to the 
primeval Aztecs, it was a privilege and religious 
custom to eat part of any sacrifice that had been 
offered. 

There can be little doubt, to any one who has 
studied the earliest human antiquities, that all 
races indulged in cannibalism, not only during 



104 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



that enormously remote age called Paleolithic, 
but in comparatively recent though still prehis- 
toric times. "This is clearly proved by the num- 
ber of human bones, chiefly of women and young 
persons, which have been found charred by fire 
and split open for extraction of the marrow." 
Such charred bones have frequently been pre- 
served in caves, as at Chaleux in Belgium, where 
in some instances they occurred "in such numbers 
as to indicate that they had been the scene of 
cannibal feasts." 

The survival of human sacrifice among the 
Aztecs, with its accompanying traces of canni- 
balism, was due to the savagery of a long previous 
condition of their Indian race : just as in the Greek 
drama, when that ancient people had attained a 
high level of culture and refinement, the sacrifice 
of a human life, sometimes a princess or other dis- 
tinguished heroine, was not unfrequent. We re- 
member Polyxena, the virgin daughter of Hecuba, 
whom her own people resolved to sacrifice on the 
tomb of Achilles : and her touching bravery, as 
she requests the Greeks not to bind her, being 
ashamed, she says, "having lived a princess to 
die a slave." A better known example is Iphi- 
genia, so beloved by her father, King Agamem- 
non, and yet given up by him a victim for pur- 
poses of state and religion. 

From the Greek drama, human sacrifices fre- 
quently passed to the Roman ; nor does such a 
refined critic as Horace object to it, but only sug- 
gests that the bloodshed ought to be perpetrated 
behind the scenes. In Seneca's play, Medea 
(quoted in our Introduction), that rule was 
grossly violated, since the children have their 



106 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

throats cut by their heroic mother in full view of 
the audience. In the same passage (Ars Poet., 
185, 186) Horace forbids a banquet of human 
flesh being prepared before the eyes of the public, 
as had been done in a play written by Ennius, the 
Roman poet. The religious sacrifice of human 
victims by the "Druids" or priests of ancient Gaul 
and Britain seems exactly parallel to the whole- 
sale executions on the Mexican teocallis, since the 
wretched victims whom our Celtic ancestors 
packed for burning into those huge wicker 
images, were captives taken in battle, like those 
stretched for slaughter upon the Mexican stone of 
sacrifice. 

Human sacrifice was so common in civilized 
Rome that it was not till the first century b. c. 
that a law was passed expressly forbidding it — ■ 
(Pliny, Hist. Nat., xxx, 3, 4). 



CHAPTER VI 

ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS 

The "New Birth" of the world, which charac- 
terized the end of the fifteenth century, had an 
enormous influence upon Spain. Her queen, the 
"great Catholic Isabella," had, by assisting Co- 
lumbus, done much in the great discovery of the 
Western World. Spain speedily had substantial 
reward in the boundless wealth poured into her 
lap, and the rich colonies added to her dominion. 
Thus in the beginning of the sixteenth century 
the new consolidated Spain, formed by the union 



ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS 107 



of the two kingdoms, Castile and Aragon, became 
the richest and greatest of all the European states. 

The Spanish governors in the West Indies be- 
ing ambitious of planting new colonies in the 
name of the Spanish King, conquest and annexa- 
tion were stimulated in all directions. When 
Cuba and Hayti were overrun and annexed to 
Spain, not without much unjust treatment of the 
simple natives, as we have seen, they became 
centers of operation, whence expeditions could be 
sent to Trinidad or any other island, to Panama, 
to Yucatan, or Florida, or any other part of the 
continent. After the marvelous experience of 
Grijalva in Yucatan, then considered an island, 
and his report that its inhabitants were quite a 
civilized community compared with the natives 
of the isles, Velasquez, the Governor of Cuba, 
resolved at once to invade the new country for 
purposes of annexation and plunder. 

Velasquez prepared a large expedition for this 
adventure, consisting of eleven ships with more 
than 600 armed men on board ; and after much 
deliberation chose Fernando Cortes to be the 
commander. Who was this Cortes, destined by 
his military genius and unscrupulous policy to be 
comparable to Hannibal or Julius Caesar among 
the ancients, and to Give or Napoleon Bonaparte 
among the moderns ? Velasquez knew him well 
as one of his subordinates in the cruel conquest 
of Cuba; before that Cortes had distinguished 
himself in Hayti as an energetic and skilled offi- 
cer. Of an impetuous and fiery temper which he 
had learned to keep thoroughly in command, he 
was characterized by that quality possessed by 
all commanders of superior genius, the "art of 



io8 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



gaining the confidence and governing the minds 
of men." As a youth in Spain he had studied for 
the bar at the University of Salamanca ; and in 
some of his speeches on critical occasions one can 
find certain traces of his academical training in 
the adroit arguments and clever appeals. 

Other qualifications as an officer were his manly 
and handsome appearance, his affable manners, 
combined with ''extraordinary address in all mar- 
tial exercises, and a constitution of such vigor as 
to be capable of enduring any fatigue." 

Cortes on reviewing his commission from the 
Governor, Velasquez, was too shrewd not to be 
aware of the importance of his new position. The 
"Great Admiral," with reference to the discovery 
of the New World, had said : "I have only opened 
the door for others to enter" ; and Cortes was con- 
scious that now was the moment for that entrance. 
Filled with unbounded ambition he rose to the 
occasion. 

Velasquez somewhat hypocritically pretended 
that the object he had in view was merely barter 
with the natives of New Spain — that being the 
name given by Grijalva to Yucatan and the 
neighboring country. He ordered Cortes 

to impress on the natives the grandeur and goodness of his 
royal master; to invite them to give in their allegiance to 
him, and to manifest it by regaling him with such com- 
fortable presents of gold, pearls, and precious stones as 
by showing their own good-will would secure his favor and 
protection. 

Mustering his forces for the new expedition, 
Cortes found that he had no sailors, 553 soldiers, 
besides 200 Indians of the island ; ten heavy guns, 



ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS 109 



four lighter ones, called falconets. He had also 
sixteen horses, knowing the effect of even a small 
body of cavalry in dealing with savages. On 
February 18, 15 19, Cortes sailed with eleven ves- 
sels for the coast of Yucatan. 

Landing at Tabasco, where Grijalva had found 
the natives friendly, Cortes found that the Yuca- 
tans had resolved to oppose him, and were pres- 
ently assembled in great numbers. The result of 
the fighting, however, was naturally a foregone 
conclusion, partly on account of "the astonish- 
ment and terror excited by the destructive effect" 
of the European firearms, and the "monstrous 
apparition" of men on horseback. Such quad- 
rupeds they had never seen before, and they con- 
cluded that the rider with his horse formed one 
unaccountable animal. Gomara and other chroni- 
clers tell how St. James, the tutelar saint of Spain, 
appeared in the ranks on a gray horse, and led the 
Christians to victory over the heathen. 

An especially fortunate thing for Cortes was 
that among the female slaves presented after this 
battle, there was one of remarkable intelligence, 
who understood both the Aztec and the Mayan 
languages, and soon learned the Spanish. She 
proved invaluable to Cortes as an interpreter, and 
afterward had a share in all his campaigns. She 
is generally called Marina. 

If the Spanish accounts are true, stating that 
the native army consisted of five squadrons of 
8,000 men each, then this victory is one of the 
most remarkable on record, as a proof of the value 
of gunpowder as compared with primitive bows 
and arrows. To the simple Americans the ter- 
rible invaders seemed actually to wield the thun- 



no EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

der and the lightning. Next day Cortes made an 
arrangement with the chiefs ; and after confidence 
was restored, asked where they got their gold 
from. They pointed to the high grounds on the 
west, and said Culhua, meaning Mexico. 

The Palm Sunday being at hand, the conversion 
of the "heathen" was duly celebrated by pompous 
and solemn ceremonial. The army marched in 
procession with the priests at their head, accom- 
panied by crowds of Indians of both sexes, till 
they reached the principal temple. A new altar 
being built, the image of the presiding deity was 
taken from its place and thrown down, to make 
room for that of the Virgin carrying the infant 
Saviour. 

Cortes now learned that the capital of the Mex- 
ican Empire was on the mountain plains nearly 
seventy leagues inland ; and that the ruler was the 
great and powerful Montezuma. 

It was on the morning of Good Friday that 
Cortes landed on the site of Vera Cruz, which 
after the conquest of Mexico speedily grew into- 
a flourishing seaport, becoming the commercial 
capital of New Spain. A friendly conference 
took place between Cortes and Teuhtlile, an Aztec 
chief, who asked from what country the strangers 
had come and why they had come. 

"I am a servant," replied Cortes, "of a mighty 
monarch beyond the seas, who rules over an im- 
mense empire, having kings and princes for his. 
vassals. Since my master has heard of the great- 
ness of the Mexican Emperor he has desired me 
to enter into communication with him, and has 
sent me as envoy to wait upon Montezuma with a 
present in token of good-will, and with a message 



ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS 1 1 1 



which I must deliver in person. When can I be 
admitted to your sovereign's presence?" 

The Aztec chief replied with an air of dignity : 
"How is it that you have been here only two days, 
and demand to see the Emperor? If there is 
another monarch as powerful as Montezuma, I 
have no doubt my master will be happy to inter- 
change courtesies." 

The slaves of Teuhtlile presented to Cortes 

ten loads of fine cotton, several mantles of that curious 
feather-work whose rich and delicate dyes might vie with 
the most beautiful painting, and a wicker basket filled with 
ornaments of wrought gold, all calculated to inspire the 
Spaniards with high ideas of the wealth and mechanical 
ingenuity of the Mexicans. 

Having duly expressed his thanks, Cortes then 
laid before the Aztec chief the presents intended 
for Montezuma. These were "an armchair richly 
carved and painted ; a crimson cap bearing a gold 
medal emblazoned with St. George and the 
Dragon ; collars, bracelets, and other ornaments 
of cut-glass, which, in a country where glass was 
unknown, might claim to have the value of real - 
gems." 

During the interview Teuhtlile had been curi- 
ously observing a shining gilt helmet worn by a 
soldier, and said that it was exactly like that of 
Quetzalcoatl. "Who is he?" asked Cortes. 
"Quetzalcoatl is the god about whom the Aztecs 
have the prophecy that he will come back to them 
across the sea." Cortes promised to send the hel- 
met to Montezuma, and expressed a wish that it 
would be returned filled with the gold-dust of the 



112 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



Aztecs, that he might compare it with the Spanish 
gold-dust ! 

One reporter who was present says : 

He further told Governor Teuhtlile that the Spaniards 
were troubled with a disease of the heart for which gold 
was a specific remedy! 

Another incident of this notable interview was 
that one of the Mexican attendants was observed 
by Cortes to be scribbling with a pencil. It was 
an artist sketching the appearance of the stran- 
gers, their dress, arms, and attitude, and filling in 
the picture with touches of color. Struck with the 
idea of being thus represented to the Mexican 
monarch, Cortes ordered the cavalry to be exer- 
cised on the beach in front of the artists. 

The bold and rapid movements of the troops, . . . the 
apparent ease with which they managed the fiery animals 
on which they were mounted, the glancing of their weapons, 
and the shrill cry of the trumpet, all filled the spectators 
with astonishment; but when they heard the thunders" of 
the cannon, which Cortes ordered to be fired at the same 
time, and witnessed the volumes of smoke and flame issuing 
from these terrible engines, and the rushing sound of the 
balls, as they dashed through the trees of the neighboring 
forest, shivering their branches into fragments, they were 
filled with consternation and wonder, from which the Aztec 
chief himself was not wholly free. 

This was all faithfully copied by the picture- 
writers, so far as their art went, in sketching and 
vivid coloring. They also recorded the ships of 
the strangers — "the water-houses," as they were 



ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS 113 

named — whose dark hulls and snow-white sails 
were swinging at anchor in the bay. 

Meantime what had Montezuma been doing, 
the sad-faced * and haughty Emperor of Mexico, 
land of the Aztecs and the Tezcucans? At the 
beginning of his reign he had as a skilful general 
led his armies as far as Honduras and Nicaragua, 
extending the limits of the empire, so that it had 
now reached the maximum. 

Tezcuco, the sister state to Mexico, had latterly 
shown hostility to Montezuma, and still more 
formidable was the republic of Tlascala, lying* 
between his capital and the coast. Prodigies and 
prophecies now began to affect all classes of the 
population in the Mexican Valley. Everybody 
spoke of the return from over the sea of the popu- 
lar god Quetzalcoatl, the fair-skinned and long- 
haired (p. 93). A generation had already elapsed 
since the first rumors that white men in great 
mysterious vessels, bearing in their hands the 
thunder and lightning, were seizing the islands 
and must soon seize the mainland. 

No wonder that Montezuma, stern, tyrannical, 
and disappointed, should be dismayed at the news 
of Grijalva's landing, and still more so when hear- 
ing of the fleet and army of Cortes, and seeing* 
their horsemen pictured by his artists — the whole 
accompanied by exaggerated accounts of the guns 
and cannon able to produce thunder and light- 
ning. After holding a council, Montezuma re- 
solved to send an embassy to Cortes, presenting 
him with a present which should reflect the in- 
comparable grandeur and resources of Mexico, 

* The name Montezuma means " sad or severe man," a title 
suited to his features, though not to his mild character. 
8 



114 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



and at the same time forbidding an approach to 
the capital. 

The governor Teuhtlile, on this second em- 
bassy, was accompanied by two Aztec nobles and 
ioo slaves, bearing the present from Montezuma 
to Cortes. As they entered the pavilion of the 
Spanish general the air was filled with clouds of 
incense which rose from censers carried by some 
attendants. 

Some delicately wrought mats were then unrolled, and 
on them the slaves displayed the various articles, . . . 
shields, helmets, cuirasses, embossed with plates and orna- 
ments of pure gold; collars and bracelets of the same 
metal, sandals, fans, and crests of variegated feathers, in- 
termingled with gold and silver thread, and sprinkled with 
pearls and precious stones; imitations of birds and ani- 
mals in wrought and cast gold and silver, of exquisite work- 
manship; curtains, coverlets, and robes of cotton, fine as 
silk, of rich and various dyes, interwoven with feather-work 
that rivaled the delicacy of painting. . . . The things 
which excited most admiration were two circular plates of 
gold and silver, as "large as carriage-wheels"; one repre- 
senting the sun was richly carved with plants and animals. 
It was thirty palms in circumference, and was worth about 
£52,500 sterling.* 

Cortes was interested in seeing the soldier's 
helmet brought back to him full to the brim with 
grains of gold. The courteous message from 
Montezuma, however, did not please him much. 
Montezuma excused himself from having a per- 
sonal interview by "the distance being too great, 

•Robertson, the historian, gives ,£5,000; but Prescott 
reckons a peso de oro at £2 12s. 6d.; whence the 20,000 of the 
text gives 20,000 x 2% = 2,500 x 2 T = ,£52,500. 



ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS H5 



and the journey beset with difficulties and dan- 
gers from formidable enemies. . . . All that 
could be done, therefore, was for the strangers to 
return to their own land." 

Soon after Cortes, by a species of statecraft, 
formed a new municipality, thus transforming his 
camp into a civil community. The name of the 
new city was Villa Rica de Vera Cruz, i. e., "the 
Rich Town of the True Cross." Once the munici- 
pality was formed, Cortes resigned before them 
his office of captain-general, and thus became free 
from the authority of Velasquez. The city council 
at once chose Cortes to be captain-general and 
chief justice of the colony. He could now go 
forward unchecked by any superior except the 
Crown. 

It was a desperate undertaking to climb with 
an army from the hot region of this flat coast 
through the varied succession of "slopes" which 
form the temperate region, and at last, on the high 
table-land, obtain entrance upon the great en- 
closed valley of Mexico. Cortes found that an 
essential preliminary was to gain the friendship 
of the Totonacs, a nation tributary to Montezuma. 
Their subjection to the Aztecs he had already 
verified, since one day when holding a conference 
with the Totonac leaders and a neighboring 
cazique (i. e., "prince"), Cortes saw five men of 
haughty appearance enter the market-place, fol- 
lowed by several attendants, and at once receive 
the politest attention from the Totonacs. 

Cortes asked Marina, his slave interpreter, who 
or what they were. "They are Aztec nobles," 
she replied, "sent by Montezuma to receive trib- 
ute." Presently the Totonac chiefs came to Cortes 



116 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

with looks of dire dismay, to inform him of the 
great Emperor's resentment at the entertainment 
offered to the Spaniards, and demanding in ex- 
piation twenty young men and women for sacri- 
fice to the Aztec gods. 

Cortes, with every look of indignation, insisted 
that the Totonacs should not only refuse to com- 
ply, but should seize the Aztec messengers and 
hold them strictly confined in prison. Unscrupu- 
lous to gain his ends, Cortes by lies and cunning 
duplicity managed to set the Mexican nobles free, 
dismissing them with a friendly message to Mon- 
tezuma, while at the same time securing the confi- 
dence of the simple-minded Totonacs, urging 
them to join the Spaniards and make a bold effort 
to regain their independence. Some thought that 
Cortes was re?lly the kindly divinity Quetzal- 
coatl, promised by the prophets to bring freedom 
and happiness. 

As an instance of the religious enthusiasm of 
the Spanish invaders, we may give the account 
of the "conversion" of Zempoalla, a city in the 
Totonac district. When Cortes pressed upon the 
cazique of Zempoalla that his mission was to turn 
the Indians from the abominations of their present 
religion, that prince replied that he could not ac- 
cept what the Spanish priests had told him about 
the Creator and Ruler of the Universe ; especially 
that he ever stooped to become a mere man, weak 
and poor, so as to suffer voluntarily persecution 
and even death at the hands of some of his own 
creatures. The cazique added that he "would re- 
sist any violence offered to his gods, who would, 
indeed, avenge the act themselves by the instant 
destruction of their enemies." 



ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS 



117 



Cortes and his men seized the opportunity. 
There is no doubt that, after witnessing some of 
the barbarous sacrifices of human victims fol- 
lowed by cannibal feasts, their souls had naturally 
been sickened. They now proceeded to force the 
work of conversion as soon as Cortes had ap- 
pealed to them and declared that "God and the 
holy saints would never -favor their enterprise, if 
such atrocities were allowed ; and that for his 
own part, he was resolved the Indian idols should 
be demolished that very hour if it cost him his 
life. 

"Scarcely waiting for his commands the Span- 
iards moved toward one of the principal teocallis, 
or temples, which rose high on a pyramidal foun- 
dation with a steep ascent of stone steps in the 
middle. The cazique, divining their purpose, 
instantly called his men to arms. The Indian war- 
riors gathered from all quarters, with shrill cries 
and clashing of weapons, while the priests, in 
their dark cotton robes, with disheveled tresses 
matted with blood, rushed frantic among the na- 
tives, calling on them to protect their gods from 
violation ! All was now confusion and tumult. 
. . . Cortes took his usual prompt measures. 
Causing the cazique and some of the principal citi- 
zens and priests to be arrested, he commanded 
them to quiet the people, declaring that if a single 
arrow was shot against a Spaniard, it should cost 
every one of them his life. . . . The cazique cov- 
ered his face with his hands, exclaiming that the 
gods would avenge their own wrongs. 

"The Christians were not slow in availing them- 
selves of his tacit acquiescence. Fifty soldiers, at 
a signal from their general, sprang up the great 



Ii8 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

stairway of the temple, entered the building on 
the summit, the walls of which were black with 
human gore, and dragged the huge wooden idols 
to the edge of the terrace. Their fantastic forms 
and features, conveying a symbolic meaning 
which was lost on the Spaniards, seemed to their 
eyes only the hideous lineaments of Satan. With 
great alacrity they rolled the colossal monsters 
down the steps of the pyramid, amid the tri- 
umphant shouts of their own companions and the 
groans and lamentations of the natives. They 
then consummated the whole by burning them in 
the presence of the assembled multitude." 

After the temple had been cleansed from 
every trace of the idol-worship and its horrors, 
a new altar was raised, surmounted by a lofty 
cross, and hung with garlands of roses. A reac- 
tion having now set in among the Indians, many 
were willing to become Christians, and some of 
the Aztec priests even joined in a procession to 
signify their conversion, wearing white robes in- 
stead of their former dark mantles, and carry- 
ing lighted candles in their hands, "while an 
image of the Virgin half smothered under the 
weight of flowers was borne aloft, and, as the 
procession climbed the steps of the temple, was 
deposited above the altar. . . . The impressive 
character of the ceremony and the passionate 
eloquence of the good priest touched the feel- 
ings of the motley audience, until Indians as well 
as Spaniards, if we may trust the chronicler, 
were melted into tears and audible sobs." 

Before finally marching westward toward the 
temperate "slopes" of the mountains, Cortes had 
another opportunity of proving his generalship 



ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS 1 19 



and prompt resource at a critical moment. When 
Agathocles, the autocratic ruler of Syracuse, 
sailed over to defeat the Carthaginians, the first 
thing he did on landing in Africa was to burn his 
ships, that his soldiers might have no opportunity 
of retreat, and no hope but in victory. Cortes 
now acted on exactly the same principle. 

After discovering that a number of his soldiers 
had formed a conspiracy to seize one of the ships 
and sail to Cuba, Cortes, on conviction, punished 
two of the ringleaders with death. Soon after, 
he formed the extraordinary resolution of de- 
stroying his ships without the knowledge of his 
army. 

The five worst ships were first ordered to be 
dismantled; and, soon after, to be sunk. When 
the rest were inspected, four of them were con- 
demned in the same manner. 

When the news reached Zempoalla, the army 
were excited almost to open mutiny. Cortes, 
however, was perfectly cool. Addressing the 
army collectively, he assured them that the ships 
were not fit for service, as had been shown by 
due inspection. "There is one important advan- 
tage gained to the army, viz., the addition of a 
hundred able-bodied recruits who were necessary 
to man the lost ships. Besides all that, of what 
use could ships be to us in the present expedition ? 
As for me, I will remain here even without a 
comrade. As for those who shrink from the dan- 
gers of our glorious enterprise, let them go back, 
in God's name ! Let them go home, since there is 
still one vessel left ; let them go on board and 
return to Cuba. They can tell how they deserted 
their commander and their comrades, and pa- 



120 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



tiently wait till they see us return loaded with the 
spoils of the Aztecs." 

Persuasion is the end of true oratory. The re- 
ply of the army to Cortes was the unanimous 
shout "To Mexico ! To Mexico !" 

After beginning- the gradual ascent in their 
march toward the table-land of Mexico, the first 
place noted by the invaders was Jalapa, a town 
which still retains its Aztec name, known to all 
the world by the well-known drug grown there. 
It is a favorite resort of the wealthier residents 
in Vera Cruz, and that too tropical plain which 
Cortes had just left. The mighty mountain 
Orizaba, one of the guardians of the Mexican 
Valley, is now full in sight, towering in solitary 
grandeur with its robe of snow. 

At last they reached a town so populous that 
there were thirteen Aztec temples with the usual 
sacrificial stone for human victims before each 
idol. In the suburbs the Spanish were shocked 
by a gathering of human skulls, many thousand 
in number. This appalling reminder of the un- 
speakable sacrifices soon became a familiar sight 
as they marched through that country. 

Cortes asked the cazique if he were subject to 
Montezuma. "Who is there," replied the local 
prince, "that is not tributary to that Emperor?" 
"J am not," said the stranger general. Cortes 
assured him that the monarch whom the Span- 
iards served had princes as vassals, who were 
more powerful than the Aztec ruler. The cazique 
said : 

Montezuma could muster thirty great vassals, each mas- 
ter of 100,000 men. His revenues were incalculable, since 



ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS 121 



every subject, however poor, paid something. . . . More 
than 20,000 victims, the fruit of his wars, were annually 
sacrificed on the altars of his gods !■ His capital stood on 
a lake, in the center of a spacious valley. . . . The ap- 
proach to the city was by means of causeways several miles 
long ; and when the connecting bridges were raised all 
communication with the country was cut off. 

The Indians showed the greatest curiosity re- 
specting the dresses, weapons, horses, and dogs 
of their strange visitors. The country all around 
was then well wooded and full of villages and 
towns, which disappeared after the conquest. 
Humboldt remarked, when he traveled there, 
that the whole district had, "at the time of the ar- 
rival of the Spanish, been more inhabited and 
better cultivated, and that in proportion as they 
got higher up near the table-land, they found the 
villages more frequent, the fields more sub- 
divided, and the people more law-abiding." 

Before entering upon the table-land, Cortes re- 
solved to visit the republic of Tlascala, which was 
noted for having retained its independence in 
spite of the Aztecs. After sending an embassy, 
consisting of the four chief Zempoallas, who had 
accompanied the army, he set out toward Tlas- 
cala, lingering as they proceeded, so that his 
ambassadors should have time to return. While 
wondering at the delay, they suddenly reached a 
remarkable fortification which marked the limits 
of the republic, and acted as a barrier against the 
Mexican invasions. Prescott thus describes it : 

A stone wall nine feet in height and twenty in thickness, 
with a parapet a foot and a half broad raised on the sum- 
mit for the protection of those who defended it. It had 



12 2 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



only one opening in the center, made by two semicircular 
lines of wall overlapping each other for the space of forty 
paces, and affording a passageway between, ten paces 
wide, so contrived, therefore, as to be perfectly commanded 
by the inner wall. This fortification, which extended 
more than two leagues, rested at either end on the bold 
natural buttresses formed by the sierra. The work was 
built of immense blocks of stone nicely laid together with- 
out cement, and the remains still existing, among which 
are rocks of the whole breadth of the rampart, fully at- 
test its solidity and size. 

Who were the people of this stout-hearted re- 
public? The Tlascalans were a kindred tribe to 
the Aztecs, and after coming to the Mexican 
Valley, toward the close of the twelfth century, 
had settled for many years on the western shore 
of Lake Tezcuco. Afterward they migrated to 
that district of fruitful valleys where Cortes 
found them ; Tlascala, meaning ''land of bread." 
They then, as a nation, consisted of four separate 
states, considerably civilized, and always able to 
protect their confederacy against foreign inva- 
sion. Their arts, religion, and architecture were 
the same as those of the Aztecs and Tezcucans. 

More than once had the Aztecs attempted to 
bring the little republic into subjection, but in 
vain. In one campaign Montezuma had lost a 
favorite, besides having his army defeated ; and 
though a much more formidable invasion fol- 
lowed, "the bold mountaineers withdrew into the 
recesses of their hills, and coolly watching their 
opportunity, rushed like a torrent on the inva- 
ders, and drove them back with dreadful slaugh- 
ter from their territories." 

The Tlascalans had of course heard of the 



ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS 1 23 



redoubtable Europeans and their advance upon 
Montezuma's kingdom, but not expecting any 
visit themselves, they were in doubt about the 
embassy sent by Cortes, and the council had not 
reached a decision when the arrival of Cortes was 
announced at the head of his cavalry. Attacked by 
a body of several thousand Indians, he sent back 
a horseman to make the infantry hurry up to his 
assistance. Two of the horses were killed, a loss 
seriously felt by Cortes ; but when the main body 
had discharged a volley from their muskets and 
crossbows, so astounded were the Tlascalan 
Indians that they stopped fighting and withdrew 
from the field. 

Next morning, after Cortes had given careful 
instruction to his army (now more than 3,000 in 
number, with his Indian auxiliaries), they had 
not marched far when they were met by two of 
the Zempoallans, who had been sent as ambassa- 
dors. They informed Cortes that, as captives, 
they had been reserved for the sacrificial stone, 
but had succeeded in breaking out of prison. 
They also said that forces were being collected 
from all quarters to meet the Spaniards. 

At the first encounter, the Indians, after some 
spirited fighting, retreated in order to draw the 
Spanish army into a defile impracticable for ar- 
tillery or cavalry. Pressing forward they found, 
on turning an abrupt corner of the glen, that an 
army of many thousands was drawn up in order, 
prepared to receive them. As they came into 
view, the Tlascalans set up a piercing war-cry, 
shrill and hideous, accompanied by the melan- 
choly beat of a thousand drums. Cortes spurred 
on the cavalry to force a passage for the infantry, 



124 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



and kept exhorting his soldiers, while showing 
them an example of personal daring. "If we 
fail now," he cried, "the Cross of Christ can 
never be planted in this land. Forward, com- 
rades ! when was it ever known that a Castilian 
turned his back on a foe ?" 

With desperate efforts the soldiers forced a 
passage through the Indian columns, and then, as 
soon as the horse opened room for the move- 
ments of the gunners, the terrible "thunder and 
lightning" of the cannon did the rest. The havoc 
caused in their ranks, combined with the roar and 
the flash of gunpowder, and the mangled car- 
casses, filled the whole of the barbarian army 
with horror and consternation. Eight leaders of 
the Tlascalan army having fallen, the prince 
ordered a retreat. 

The chief of the Tlascalans, Xicotencatl, was 
no ordinary leader. When Cortes wished to 
press on to the capital, he sent two envoys to the 
Tlascalan camp, but all that Xicotencatl deigned 
to reply was 

that the Spaniards might pass on as soon as they chose to 
Tlascala, and when they reached it their flesh would be 
hewn from their bodies for sacrifice to the gods. If they 
preferred to remain in their own quarters, he would pay 
them a visit there the next day. 

The envoys also told Cortes that the chief had 
now collected another very large army, five bat- 
talions of 10,000 men each. There was evidently 
a determination to try the fate of Tlascala by a 
pitched battle and exterminate the bold invaders. 

The next day, September 5, 15 19, was there- 



ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS 1 25 

fore a critical one in the annals of Cortes. He 
resolved to meet the Tlascalan chief in the field, 
after directing the foot-soldiers to use the point 
of their swords and not the edge ; the horse to 
charge at half speed, directing their lances at the 
eyes of their enemies ; the gunners and cross- 
bowmen to support each other, some loading 
while others were discharging their pieces. 

Before Cortes and his soldiers had marched 
a mile they saw the immense Tlascalan army 
stretched far and wide over a vast plain. "Noth- 
ing could be more picturesque than the aspect of 
these Indian battalions, with the naked bodies of 
the common soldiers gaudily painted, the fantas- 
tic helmets of the chiefs bright with ornaments 
and precious stones, and the glowing panoplies 
of feather-work. . . . 

The golden glitterance and the feather-mail 

More gay than glittering gold; and round the helm 

A coronal of high upstanding plumes. 

. With war-songs and wild music they came on * 

The Tlascalan warriors had attained wonder- 
ful skill in throwing the javelin. "One species, 
with a thong attached to it, which remained in the 
slinger's hand, that he might recall the weapon, 
was especially dreaded by the Spaniards." Their 
various weapons were pointed with bone or ob- 
sidian, and sometimes headed with copper. 

The yell or scream of defiance raised by these 
Indians almost drowned the volume of sound 
from "the wild barbaric minstrelsy of shell, 
atabal, and trumpet with which they proclaimed 

*Southey (Madoc, i, 7). 



126 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



their triumphant anticipations of victory over the 
paltry forces of the invaders." 

Advancing under a thick shower of arrows and 
other missiles, the Spanish soldiers at a certain 
distance quickly halted and drew up in order, 
before delivering a general fire along the whole 
line. The front ranks of their wild opponents 
were mowed down and those behind were "petri- 
fied with dismay." 

But for the accident of dissension having 
arisen between the chiefs of the Tlascalans, it al- 
most seemed as if nothing could have saved 
Cortes and his Spanish army. Before the battle, 
the haughty treatment of one of those chiefs by 
Xicotencatl, the cazique, provoked the injured 
man to draw off all his contingent during the 
battle, and persuade another chief to do the same. 
With his forces so weakened, the cazique was 
compelled to resign the field to the Spaniards. 

Xicotencatl, in his eagerness for revenge, con- 
sulted some of the Aztec priests, who recom- 
mended a night attack upon Cortes's camp in 
order to take his army by surprise. The Tlas- 
calan, therefore, with 10,000 warriors, marched 
secretly toward the Spanish camp, but owing to 
the bright moonlight they were not unseen by 
the vedettes. Besides that, Cortes had accus- 
tomed his army to sleep with their arms by their 
side and the horses ready saddled. In an instant, 
as it were, the whole camp were on the alert and 
under arms. The Indians, meanwhile, were 
stealthily advancing to the silent camp, and, "no 
sooner had they reached the slope of the rising 
ground than they were astounded by the deep 
battle-cry of the Spaniards, followed by the in- 



ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS 12 7 



stantaneous appearance of the whole army. 
Scarcely awaiting the shock of their enemy, the 
panic-struck barbarians fled rapidly and tumul- 
tuously across the plain. The horse easily over- 
took the fugitives, riding them down, and cutting 
them to pieces without mercy." Next day Cortes 
sent new ambassadors to the Tlascalan capital, 
accompanied by his faithful slave interpreter, 
Marina. They found the cazique's council sad 
and dejected, every gleam of hope being now 
extinguished. 

The message of Cortes still promised friend- 
ship and pardon, if only they agreed to act as 
allies. If the present offer were rejected, "he 
would visit their capital as a conqueror, raze 
every house to the ground, and put every inhab- 
itant to the sword." On hearing this ultimatum, 
the council chose four leading chiefs to be en- 
trusted with a mission to Cortes, "assuring him of 
a free passage through the country, and a friendly 
reception in the capital." The ambassadors, on 
their way back to Cortes, called at the camp of 
Xicotencatl, and were there detained by him. 
He was still planning against the terrible in- 
vaders. 

Cortes, in the meantime, had another oppor- 
tunity of showing his resource and presence of 
mind. Some of his soldiers had shown a grum- 
bling discontent : "The idea of conquering Mex- 
ico was madness ; if they had encountered such 
opposition from the petty republic, what might 
they not expect from the great Mexican Empire ? 
There was now a temporary suspension of hos- 
tilities ; should they not avail themselves of it to 
retrace their steps to Vera Cruz ?" To this Cortes 



128 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

listened calmly and politely, replying that "he had 
told them at the outset that glory was to be won 
only by toil and danger ; he had never shrunk 
from his share of both. To go back now was im- 
possible. What would the Tlascalans say ? How 
would the Mexicans exult at such a miserable is- 
sue ! Instead of turning your eyes toward Cuba, 
fix them on Mexico, the great object of our enter- 
prise." Many other soldiers having gathered 
round, the mutinous party took courage to say 
that "another such victory as the last would be 
their ruin ; they were going to Mexico only to be 
slaughtered." With some impatience Cortes 
gaily quoted a soldiers' song : 

Better die with honor 
Than live in long disgrace! 

■ — a sentiment which the majority of the audience 
naturally cheered to the echo, while the malcon- 
tents slunk away to their quarters. 

The next event was the arrival of some Tlas- 
calans wearing white badges as an indication of 
peace. They brought a message, they said, from 
Xicotencatl, who now desired an arrangement 
with Cortes, and would soon appear in person. 
Most of them remained in the camp, where they 
were treated kindly ; but Marina, with her 
"woman's wit," became somewhat suspicious of 
them. Perhaps some of them, forgetting that 
she knew their language, let drop a phrase in 
talking to each other, which awoke her distrust. 
She told Cortes that the men were spies. He 
had them arrested and examined separately, as- 
certaining in that way that they were sent to 



ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS 1 29 

obtain secret information of the Spanish camp, 
and that, in fact, Xicotencatl was mustering his 
forces to make another determined attack on the 
invading army. 

To show the fierceness of his resentment at 
such treatment, Cortes ordered the fifty spy am- 
bassadors to have their hands hacked off, and 
sent back to tell their lord that "the Tlascalans 
might come by day or night, they would find the 
Spaniards ready for them." The sight of their 
mutilated comrades filled the Indian camp with 
dread and horror. All thoughts of resistance to 
the advance of Cortes were now abandoned, and 
not long after the arrival of Xicotencatl himself 
was announced, attended by a numerous train. 
He advanced with "the firm and fearless step of 
one who was coming rather to bid defiance than 
to sue for peace. He was rather above the middle 
size, with broad shoulders and a muscular frame, 
intimating great activity and strength. He made 
the usual salutation by touching the ground with 
his hand and carrying it to his head." He threw 
no blame on the Tlascalan senate, but assumed 
all the responsibility of the war. He admitted 
that the Spanish army had beaten him, but hoped 
they would use their victory with moderation, 
and not trample on the liberties of the repub- 
lic. 

Cortes admired the cazique's lofty spirit, while 
pretending to rebuke him for having so long re- 
mained an enemy. "He was willing to bury the 
past in oblivion, and to receive the Tlascalans as 
vassals to the Emperor, his master." 

Before the entry into Tlascala, the capital, 
there arrived an embassy from Montezuma, who 
9 



130 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

had been keenly disappointed, no doubt, that 
Cortes had not only not been defeated by the 
bravest race on the Mexican table-land, but had 
formed a friendly alliance with them. 

As Cortes, with his army, approached the popu- 
lous city, they were welcomed by great crowds 
of men and women in picturesque dresses, with 
nosegays and wreaths of flowers ; priests in white 
robes and long matted tresses, swinging their 
burning censers of incense. The anniversary of 
this entry into Tlascala, September 23, 15 19, is 
still celebrated as a day of rejoicing. 

Cortes, in his letter to the Emperor, King of 
Spain, compares it for size and appearance to 
Granada, the Moorish capital. Pottery was one 
of the industries in which Tlascala excelled. The 
Tlascalan was chiefly agricultural in his habits ; 
his honest breast glowed with the patriotic at- 
tachment to the soil, which is the fruit of its dili- 
gent culture, while he was elevated by that con- 
sciousness of independence which is the natural 
birthright of a child of the mountains. 

Cholula, capital of the republic of that name, is 
six leagues north of Tlascala, and about twenty 
southeast of Mexico. In the time of the con- 
quest of the table-land of Anahuac, as the whole 
district is sometimes termed, this city was large 
and populous. The people excelled in mechanical 
arts, especially metal-working, cloth-weaving, 
and a delicate kind of pottery. Reference has 
already been made to the god Quetzalcoatl, in 
whose honor a huge pyramid was erected here. 
From the farthest parts of Anahuac devotees 
thronged to Cholula, just as the Mohammedans 
to Mecca. 



ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS 131 



The Spaniards found the people of Cholula 
superior in dress and looks to any of the races 
they had seen. The higher classes "wore fine 
embroidered mantles resembling the Moorish 
cloak in texture and fashion. . . . They showed the 
same delicate taste for flowers as the other tribes 
of the plateau, tossing garlands and bunches 
among the soldiers. . . . The Spaniards were 
also struck with the cleanliness of the city, the 
regularity of the streets, the solidity of the 
houses, and the number and size of the pyram- 
idal temples." After being treated with kind- 
ness and hospitality for several days, all at once 
the scene changed, the cause being the arrival of 
- messengers from Montezuma. At the same 
time some Tlascalans told Cortes that a great 
sacrifice, mostly of children, had been offered to 
propitiate the favor of the gods. 

At this juncture, Marina, the Indian slave in- 
terpreter, again proved to be the "good angel" of 
Cortes. She had become very friendly with the 
wife of one of the Cholula caziques, who gave 
her a hint that there was danger in staying at the 
house of any Spaniard ; and, when further 
pressed by Marina, said that the Spaniards were 
to be slaughtered when marching out of the capi- 
tal. The plot had originated with the Aztec Em- 
peror, and 20,000 Mexicans were already quar- 
tered a little distance out of town. 

In this most critical position, Cortes at once 
decided to take possession of the great square, 
placing a strong guard at each of its three gates 
of entrance. The rest of what troops he had in 
the town, he posted without with the cannon, to 
command the avenues. He had already sent 



I3 2 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



orders to the Tlascalan chiefs to keep their sol- 
diers in readiness to march, at a given signal, 
into the city to support the Spaniards. Presently 
the caziques of Cholula arrived with a larger 
body of levies than Cortes had demanded. He 
at once charged them with conspiring against the 
Spaniards after receiving them as friends. They 
were so amazed at his discovery of their perfidy 
that they confessed everything, laying the blame 
on Montezuma. "That pretense," said Cortes, 
assuming a look of fierce indignation, "is no justi- 
fication ; I shall now make such an example of 
you for your treachery that the report of it will 
ring throughout the wide borders of Anahuac!" 

At the firing of a harquebus, the fatal signal, 
the crowd of unsuspecting Cholulans were mas- 
sacred as they stood, almost without resistance. 
Meantime the other Indians without the square 
commenced an attack on the Spaniards, but the 
heavy guns of the battery played upon them with 
murderous effect, and cavalry advanced to sup- 
port the attack. 

The steeds, the guns, the weapons of the Spaniards, were 
all new to the Cholulans. Notwithstanding the novelty 
of the terrific spectacle, the flash of arms mingling with the 
deafening roar of the artillery, the desperate Indians pushed 
on to take the places of their fallen comrades. 

While this scene of bloodshed was progressing, 
the Tlascalans, as arranged, were hastening to 
the assistance of their Spanish allies. The Cho- 
lulans, when thus attacked in rear by their tradi- 
tional enemies, speedily gave way, and tried to 
save themselves in the great temple and else- 



ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS 133 



where. The "Holy City," as it was called, was 
converted into a pandemonium of massacre. In 
memory of the signal defeat of the Cholulans, 
Cortes converted the chief part of the great 
temple into a Christian church. 

Envoys again arrived from Mexico with rich 
presents and a message vindicating the pusillani- 
mous Emperor from any share in the conspiracy 
against Cortes. Continuing their march, the 
allied army of Spaniards and Tlascalans pro- 
ceeded till they reached the mountains which 
separate the table-land of Puebla from that of 
Mexico. To cross this range they followed the 
route which passes between the mighty Popo- 
catepetl (i. e., "the smoking mountain") and 
another called the "White Woman" from its 
broad robe of snow. The first lies about forty 
miles southeast of the capital to which their 
march was directed. It is more than 2,000 feet 
higher than Mont Blanc, and has two principal 
craters, one of which is about 1,000 feet deep and 
has large deposits of sulfur which are regularly 
mined. Popocatepetl has long been only a quies- 
cent volcano, but during the invasion by Cortes 
-it was often burning, especially at the time of 
the siege of Tlascala. That was naturally inter- 
preted all over the district of Anahuac to be a bad 
omen, associated with the landing and approach 
of the Spaniards. Cortes insisted on several de- 
scents being made into the great crater till suffi- 
cient sulfur was collected to supply gunpowder to 
his army. The icy cold winds, varied by storms 
of snow and sleet, were more trying to the Euro- 
peans than the Tlascalans, but some relief was 
found in the stone shelters which had been built at 



134 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

certain intervals along the roads for the accom- 
modation of couriers and other travelers. 

At last they reached the crest of the sierra 
which unites Popocatepetl, the "great Volcan" 
to its sister mountain the "Woman in White." 
Soon after, at a turning of the road, the invaders 
enjoyed their first view of the famous Valley of 
Mexico or Tenochtitlan, with its beautiful lakes 
in their setting of cultivated plains, here and 
there varied by woods and forests. "In the 
midst, like some Indian empress with her coronal 
of pearls, the fair city with her white towers and 
pyramidal temples, reposing as it were on the 
bosom of the waters — the far-famed 'Venice of 
the Aztecs/ " 

This view of the "Promised Land" will remind 
some of the picturesque account given by Livy 
(xxi, 35) of Hannibal reaching the top of the 
pass over the Alps and pointing out the fair pros- 
pect of Italy to his soldiers. We may thus render 
the passage : "On the ninth day the ridge of the 
Alps was reached, over ground generally track- 
less and by roundabout ways. . . . The order for 
marching being given at break of day, the army 
were sluggishly advancing over ground wholly 
covered with snow, listlessness, and despair de- 
picted on the features of all, Hannibal went on 
in front, and after ordering the soldiers to halt 
on a height which commanded a distant view, far 
and wide, points out to them Italy and the plains 
of Lombardy on both banks of the Po, at the foot 
of the Alps, telling them that at that moment they 
were crossing not only the walls of Italy but of 
the Roman capital ; that the rest of the march was 
easy and downhill." The situation of Hannibal 



CORTES AND MONTEZUMA 1 35 



and his Carthaginians surveying Italy for the 
first time is in some respects closely analogous 
to that of Cortes pointing out the Valley of Mex- 
ico to his Spanish soldiers. 



CHAPTER VII 

CORTES AND MONTEZUMA 

We have now seen the Spanish conquerors 
with a large contingent of 6,000 natives surmount- 
ing the mountains to the east of the Mexican Val- 
ley and looking down upon the Lake of Tezcuco 
on which were built the sister capitals. Monte- 
zuma, the Aztec monarch, was already in a state 
of dismay, and sent still another embassy to pro- 
pitiate the terrible Cortes, with a great present 
of gold and robes of the most precious fabrics 
and workmanship ; and a promise that, if the 
foreign general would turn back toward Vera 
Cruz, the Mexicans would pay down four loads 
of gold for himself and one to each of his cap- 
tains, besides a yearly tribute to their king in 
Europe. 

These promises did not reach Cortes till he 
was descending from the sierra. He replied that 
details were best arranged by a personal inter- 
view, and that the Spaniards came with peaceful 
motives. 

Montezuma was now plunged in deep despair. 
At last he summoned a council to consult his 
nobles and especially his nephew, the young King 



136 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

of Tezcuco, and his warlike brother. The latter 
advised him to "muster as large an army as pos- 
sible, and drive back the invaders from his capital 
or die in its defense." "Ah !" replied the mon- 
arch, "the gods have declared themselves against 
us !" Still another embassy was prepared, with 
his nephew, lord of Tezcuco, at its head, to offer 
a welcome to the unwelcome visitors. 

Cortes approached through fertile fields, plan- 
tations, and maguey-vineyards till they reached 
Lake Chalco. There they found a large town 
built in the water on piles, with canals instead 
of streets, full of movement and animation. "The 
Spaniards were particularly struck with the style 
and commodious structure of the houses, chiefly 
of stone, and with the general aspect of wealth 
and even elegance which prevailed." 

Next morning the King of Tezcuco came to 
visit Cortes, in a palanquin richly decorated with 
plates of gold and precious stones, under a canopy 
of green plumes. He was accompanied by a nu- 
merous suite. Advancing with the Mexican salu- 
tation, he said he had been commanded by Mon- 
tezuma to welcome him to the capital, at the same 
time offering three splendid pearls as a present. 
Cortes "in return threw over the young king's 
neck a chain of cut glass, which, where glass 
was as rare as diamonds, might be admitted to 
have a value as real as the latter." 

The army of Cortes next marched along the 
southern side of Lake Chalco, "through noble 
woods and by orchards glowing with autumnal 
fruits, of unknown names, but rich and tempting 
hues." They also passed "through cultivated 
fields waving with the yellow harvest, and irri- 



CORTES AND MONTEZUMA 137 



gated by canals introduced from the neighboring 
lake, the whole showing a careful and economical 
husbandry, essential to the maintenance of a 
crowded population." A remarkable public work 
next engaged the attention of the Spaniards, viz., 
a solid causeway of stone and lime running di- 
rectly through the lake, in some places so wide 
that eight horsemen could ride on it abreast. Its 
length is some four or five miles. Marching 
along this causeway, they saw other wonders; 
numbers of the natives darting in all directions in 
their skiffs, curious to watch the strangers march- 
ing, and some of them bearing the products of 
the country to the neighboring cities. They were 
amazed also by the sight of the floating gardens, 
teeming with flowers and vegetables, and moving 
like rafts over the waters. All round the mar- 
gin, and occasionally far in the lake, they beheld 
little towns and villages, which, half concealed 
by the foliage, and gathered in white clusters 
round the shore, "looked in the distance like com- 
panies of white swans riding quietly on the 
waves." About the middle of this lake was a 
town, to which the Spaniards gave the name of 
Venezuela* (i. e., "Little Venice"). From its 
situation and the style of the buildings, Cortes 
called it the most beautiful town that he had yet 
seen in New Spain. 

After crossing the isthmus which separates 
that lake from Lake Tezcuco they were now at 
Iztapalapan, a royal residence in charge of the 
Emperor's brother. Here a ceremonious recep- 

* Not to be confounded with the Indian village on the shore 
of Lake Maracaibo, to which (with similar motive) Vespucci 
had given that name — now capital of a large republic. 



138 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

tion was given to Cortes and his staff, "a collation 
being served in one of the great halls of the 
palace. The excellence of the architecture here 
excited the admiration of the general. The build- 
ings were of stone, and the spacious apartments 
had roofs of odorous cedar-wood, while the walls 
were tapestried with fine cotton stained with bril- 
liant colors. 

"But the pride of Iztapalapan was its cele- 
brated gardens, covering an immense tract of 
land and laid out in regular squares. The gar- 
dens were stocked with fruit-trees and with the 
gaudy family of flowers which belonged to the 
Mexican flora, scientifically arranged, and grow- 
ing luxuriant in the equable temperature of the 
table-land. In one quarter was an aviary filled 
with numerous kinds of birds remarkable in this 
region both for brilliancy of plumage and for 
song. But the most elaborate piece of work was 
a huge reservoir of stone, filled to a considerable 
height with water, well supplied with different 
sorts of fish. This basin was 1,600 paces in cir- 
cumference, and surrounded by a walk." 

Readers must remember that at that age no 
beautiful gardens on a large scale were known in 
any part of Europe. The first "garden of plants" 
(to use the name afterward applied by the 
French) is said to have been an Italian one, at 
Padua, in 1545, a whole generation after the time 
of the arrival of Cortes in Mexico. It was only 
under Louis "Le Magnifique" that France cre- 
ated the Versailles Gardens, and not till the time 
of George III and his tutor Bute could we boast 
of the gardens at Kew, now admired by all the 
world. The ancient Mexicans, therefore, under 



CORTES AND MONTEZUMA 



139 



their extinct civilization, had developed this taste 
for the beautiful many ages before the most cul- 
tivated races in Europe. 

Cortes took up his quarters at this residence 
of Iztapalapan for the night, expecting to meet 
Montezuma on the morrow. Mexico was now 
distinctly full in view, looking "like a thing of 
fairy creation," a city of enchantment. 

There Aztlan stood upon the farther shore; 

Amid the shade of trees its dwellings rose, 

Their level roofs with turrets set around 

And battlements all burnished white, which shone 

Like silver in the sunshine. I beheld 

The imperial city, her far-circling walls, 

Her garden groves and stately palaces, 

Her temples mountain size, her thousand roofs, 

And when I saw her might and majesty 

My mind misgave me then. 

Modoc, i, 6. 

That following day, November 8, 15 19, should 
be noted in every calendar, when the great cap- 
ital of the Western World admitted the conquer- 
ing general from the Eastern World. The in- 
vaders were now upon a larger causeway, which 
stretched across the salt waters of Lake Tezcuco ; 
and "had occasion more than ever to admire the 
mechanical science of the Aztecs." It was wide 
enough throughout its whole extent for ten horse- 
men to ride abreast. 

The Spaniards saw everywhere "evidence of a 
crowded and thriving population, exceeding all 
they had yet seen." The water was darkened 
by swarms of canoes filled with Indians; and 
here also were those fairy islands of flowers. Half 



140 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

a league from the capital they encountered a 
solid work of stone, which traversed the road. It 
was twelve feet high, strengthened by towers at 
the extremities, and in the center was a battle- 
mented gateway, which opened a passage to the 
troops. 

Here they were met by several hundred Aztec 
chiefs, who came out to announce the approach 
of Montezuma, and to welcome the Spaniards to 
his capital. They were dressed in the fanciful 
gala costume of the country, with the cotton sash 
around their loins, and a broad mantle of the 
same material, or of the brilliant feather em- 
broidery, flowing gracefully down their shoul- 
ders. On their necks and arms they displayed 
collars and bracelets of turquoise mosaic, with 
which delicate plumage was curiously mingled, 
while their ears, under lips, and occasionally their 
noses were garnished with pendants formed of 
precious stones, or. crescents of fine gold. 

After all the caziques had performed the same 
formal salutation separately, there was no further 
delay till they reached a bridge near the gates of 
the capital. Soon after "they beheld the glitter- 
ing retinue of the Emperor emerging from the 
great street leading through the heart of the city. 
Amid a crowd of Indian nobles preceded by three 
officers of state bearing golden wands, they saw 
the royal palanquin blazing with burnished gold. 
It was borne on the shoulders of nobles, and over 
it a canopy of gaudy feather-work, covered with 
jewels and fringed with silver, was supported by 
four attendants of the same rank." 

At a certain distance from the Spaniards "the 
train halted, and Montezuma, descending from 



CORTES AND MONTEZUMA 141 



the litter, came forward, leaning on the arms of 
the lords of Tezcuco and Iztapalapan" — the Em- 
peror's nephew and brother, already mentioned. 
"As the monarch advanced, his subjects, who 
lined the sides of the causeway, bent forward, with 
their eyes fastened on the ground, as he passed." 

Montezuma wore the ample square cloak com- 
mon to the Mexicans, but of the finest cotton 
sprinkled with pearls and precious stones ; his 
sandals were similarly sprinkled, and had soles of 
solid gold. His only head ornament was a bunch 
of feathers of the royal green color. A man about 
forty ; tall and rather thin ; black hair, cut rather 
short for a person of rank ; dignified in his move- 
ments ; his features wearing an expression of be- 
nignity not to be expected from his character. 

After dismounting from horseback, Cortes ad- 
vanced to meet Montezuma, who received him 
with princely courtesy, while Cortes responded by 
profound expressions of respect, with thanks for 
his experience of the Emperor's munificence. He 
then hung round Montezuma's neck a sparkling 
chain of colored crystal, accompanying this with 
a movement as if to embrace him, when he was 
restrained by the two Aztec lords, shocked at the 
menaced profanation of the sacred person of their 
monarch and master. 

Montezuma appointed his brother to conduct 
the Spaniards to their residence in the capital, and 
was again carried through the adoring crowds in 
his litter. "The Spaniards quickly followed, and 
with colors flying and music playing soon made 
their entrance into the southern quarter." 

On entering "they found fresh cause for ad- 
miration in the grandeur of the city and the 



I4 2 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

superior style of its architecture. The great 
avenue through which they were now marching 
was lined with the houses of the nobles, who were 
encouraged by the Emperor to make the capital 
their residence. The flat roofs were protected by 
stone parapets, so that every house was a fortress. 
Sometimes these roofs seemed parterres of flow- 
ers .. . broad terraced gardens laid out be- 
tween the buildings. Occasionally a great square 
intervened surrounded by its porticoes of stone 
and stucco ; or a pyramidal temple reared its 
colossal bulk crowned with its tapering sanctu- 
aries, and altars blazing with unextinguishable 
fires. But what most impressed the Spaniards 
was the throngs of people who swarmed through 
the streets and on the canals." 

Probably, however, the spectacle of the Euro- 
pean army with their horses, their guns, bright 
swords and helmets of steel, a metal to them un- 
known ; their weird and mysterious music — the 
whole formed to the Aztec populace an inex- 
plicable wonder, combined with those foreigners 
who had arrived from the distant East, "reveal- 
ing their celestial origin in their fair complex- 
ions." Many of the Aztec citizens betrayed keen 
hatred of the Tlascalans who marched with the 
Spaniards in friendly alliance. 

At length Cortes with his mixed army halted 
near the center of the city in a great open space, 
"where rose the huge pyramidal pile dedicated 
to the patron war-god of the Aztecs, second only 
to the temple of Cholula in size as well as sanc- 
tity." The present famous cathedral of modern 
Mexico is built on part of the same site. 

A palace built opposite the west side of the 



CORTES AND MONTEZUMA 143 



great temple was assigned to Cortes. It was ex- 
tensive enough to accommodate the whole of the 
army of Cortes. Montezuma paid him a visit 
there, having a long conversation through the 
indispensable assistance of Marina, the slave in- 
terpreter. 'That evening the Spaniards cele- 
brated their arrival in the Mexican capital by a 
general discharge of artillery. The thunders of 
the ordnance reverberating among the buildings 
and shaking them to their foundations, the stench 
of the sulfureous vapor reminding the inhab- 
itants of the explosions of the great volcano 
(Popocatepetl) filled the hearts of the supersti- 
tious Aztecs with dismay." 

Next day Cortes had gracious permission to 
return the visit of the Emperor, and therefore 
proceeded to wait upon him at the royal palace, 
dressed in his richest suit of clothes. The Spanish 
general felt the importance of the occasion and 
resolved to exercise all his eloquence and power 
of argument in attempting the "conversion" of 
Montezuma to the Christian faith. 

For this purpose, with the assistance of the 
faithful Marina, Cortes engaged the Emperor in 
a theological discussion ; explaining the creation 
of the world as taught in the Jewish Scriptures ; 
the fall of man from his first happy and holy con- 
dition by the temptation of Satan ; the mysterious 
redemption of the human race by the incarnation 
and atonement of the Son of God Himself. "He 
assured Montezuma that the idols worshiped in 
Mexico were Satan under different forms. A 
sufficient proof of this was the bloody sacrifices 
they imposed, which he contrasted with the pure 
and simple rite of the mass. It was to snatch the 



144 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



Emperor's soul and the souls of his people from 
the flames of eternal fire that the Christians had 
come to this land." 

Montezuma replied that the God of the Span- 
iards must be a good being, and "my gods also 
are good to me ; there was no need to further dis- 
course on the matter." If he had "resisted their 
visit to his capital, it was because he had heard 
such accounts of their cruelties — that they sent 
the lightning to consume his people, or crushed 
them to pieces under the hard feet of the ferocious 
animals on which they rode. He was now con- 
vinced that these were idle tales; that the Span- 
iards were kind and generous in their nature." 
He concluded by admitting the superiority of the 
sovereign of Cortes beyond the seas. "Your sov- 
ereign is the rightful lord of all: I rule in his 
name." 

The rough Spanish cavaliers were touched by 
the kindness and affability of Montezuma. As 
they passed him, says Diaz, in his History, they 
made him the most profound obeisance, hat in 
hand ; and on the way home could discourse of 
nothing but the gentle breeding and courtesy of 
the Indian monarch. 

MONTEZUMA'S CAPITAL 

Cortes and his army being now fairly domes- 
ticated in Mexico, and the Emperor having ap- 
parently become reconciled to the presence of his 
formidable guests, we may pause to consider the 
surroundings. 

The present capital occupies the site of Tenoch- 
titlan, but many changes have occurred in the 



CORTES AND MONTEZUMA 145 

intervening four centuries. First of all, the salt 
waters of the great lake have entirely shrunk 
away, leaving modern Mexico high and dry, a 
league away from the waters that Cortes saw 
flowing in ample canals through all the streets. 
Formerly the houses stood on elevated piles and 
were independent of the floods which rose in Lake 
Tezcuco by the overflowing of other lakes on a 
higher level. But when the foundations were on 
solid ground it became necessary to provide 
against the accumulated volume of water by ex- 
cavating a tunnel to drain off the flood. This 
was constructed about one hundred years after 
the invasion of the Spaniards, and has been de- 
scribed by Humboldt as "one of the most stu- 
pendous hydraulic works in existence." 

The appearance of the lake and suburbs of the 
capital have long lost much of the attractive ap- 
pearance they had at the time of the Spanish 
visit ; but the town itself is still the most brilliant 
city in Spanish America, surmounted by a cathe- 
dral, which forms "the most sumptuous house of 
worship in the New World." 

The great causeway already described as lead- 
ing north from the royal city of Iztapalapan, had 
another to the north of the capital, which might 
be called its continuation. The third causeway, 
leading west to the town Tacuba from the island 
city, will be noticed presently as the scene of the 
Spaniards' retreat. 

There were excellent police regulations for 
health and cleanliness. Water supplied by 
earthen pipes was from a hill about two miles 
distant. Besides the palaces and temples there 
were several important buildings: an armory 
10 



146 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

tilled with weapons and military dresses ; a gran- 
ary ; various warehouses ; an immense aviary, 
with "birds of splendid plumage assembled from 
all parts of the empire — the scarlet cardinal, the 
golden pheasant, the endless parrot tribe, and that 
miniature miracle of nature, the humming-bird, 
which delights to revel among the honeysuckle 
bowers of Mexico." The birds of prey had a 
separate building. The menagerie adjoining the 
aviary showed wild animals from the mountain 
forests, as well as creatures from the remote 
swamps of the hot lands by the seashore. The 
serpents "were confined in long cages lined with 
down or feathers, or in troughs of mud and 
water." 

Wishing to visit the great Mexican temple, 
Cortes, with his cavalry and most of his infantry, 
followed the caziques whom Montezuma had po- 
litely sent as guides. 

On their way to the central square the Span- 
iards "were struck with the appearance of the 
inhabitants, and their great superiority in the 
style and quality of their dress over the people of 
the lower countries. The women, as in other 
parts of the country, seemed to go about as freely 
as the men. They wore several skirts or petti- 
coats of different lengths, with highly orna- 
mented borders, and sometimes over them loose- 
flowing robes, which reached to the ankles. No 
veils were worn here as in some other parts of 
Anahuac. The Aztec women had their faces ex- 
posed ; and their dark raven tresses floated lux- 
uriantly oyer their shoulders, revealing features 
which, although of a dusky or rather cinnamon 
hue, were not unfrequently pleasing, while 



CORTES AND MONTEZUMA 147 



touched with the serious, even sad expression 
characteristic of the national physiognomy." 

When near the great market "the Spaniards 
were astonished at the throng of people pressing 
toward it, and on entering the place their sur- 
prise was still further heightened by the sight of 
the multitudes assembled there, and the dimen- 
sions of the enclosure, twice as large, says one 
Spanish observer, as the celebrated square of 
Salamanca. Here were traders from all parts ; 
the goldsmiths from Azcapozalco, the potters and 
jewelers of Cholula, the painters of Tezcuco, the 
stone-cutters, hunters, fishermen, fruiterers, mat 
and chair makers, florists, etc. The pottery de- 
partment was a large one ; so were the armories 
for implements of war; razors and mirrors — 
booths for apothecaries with drugs, roots, and 
medical preparations. In other places again, 
blank-books or maps for the hieroglyphics or 
pictographs were to be seen folded together like 
fans. Animals both wild and tame were offered 
for sale, and near them, perhaps, a gang of slaves 
with collars round their necks. One of the most 
attractive features of the market was the display 
of provisions : meats of all kinds, domestic poul- 
try, game from the neighboring mountains, fish 
from the lakes and streams, fruits in all the de- 
licious abundance of these temperate regions, 
green vegetables, and the unfailing maize." 

This market, like hundreds of smaller ones, 
was of course held every fifth day — the week of 
the' ancient Mexicans being one-fourth of the 
twenty days which constituted the Aztec month. 
This great market was comparable to "the period- 
ical fairs in Europe, not as they now exist, but as 



148 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

they existed in the middle ages," when from the 
difficulties of intercommunication they served as 
the great central marts for commercial inter- 
course, exercising a most important and salutary 
influence on the community. 

One of the Spaniards in the party accompany- 
ing Cortes was the historian Diaz, and his testi- 
mony is remarkable : 

There were among us soldiers who had been in many 
parts of the world, Constantinople and Rome, and through 
all Italy, and who said that a market-place so large, so well 
ordered and regulated, and so rilled with people, they had 
never seen. 

Proceeding next to the great teocalli or Aztec 
temple, covering the site of the modern cathedral 
with part of the market-place and some adjoining 
streets, they found it in the midst of a great open 
space, surrounded by a high stone wall, orna- 
mented on the outside by figures of serpents 
raised in relief, and pierced by huge battlemented 
gateways opening on the four principal streets of 
the capital. The teocalli itself was a solid pyram- 
idal structure of earth and pebbles, coated on 
the outside with hewn stones, the sides facing the 
cardinal points. It was divided into five stories, 
each of smaller dimensions than that immediately 
below. The ascent was by a flight of steps on 
the outside, which reached to the narrow terrace 
at the bottom of the second story, passing quite 
round the building, when a second stairway con- 
ducted to a similar landing at the base of the 
third. Thus the visitor was obliged to pass 
round the whole edifice four times in order to 
reach the top. This had a most imposing effect 



CORTES AND MONTEZUMA 149 



in the religious ceremonials, when the pompous 
procession of priests with their wild minstrelsy 
came sweeping round the huge sides of the pyra- 
mid, as they rose higher and higher toward the 
summit in full view of the populace assembled in 
their thousands. 

Cortes marched up the steps at the head of his 
men, and found at the summit "a vast area paved 
with broad flat stones. The first object that met 
their view was a large block of jasper, the pecul- 
iar shape of which showed it was the stone on 
which the bodies of the unhappy victims were 
stretched for sacrifice. Its convex surface, by 
raising the breast, enabled the priest to perform 
more easily his diabolical task of removing the 
heart. At the other end of the area were two 
towers or sanctuaries, consisting of three stories, 
the lower one of stone, the two upper of wood 
elaborately carved. In the lower division stood 
the images of their gods ; the apartments above 
were filled with utensils for their religious serv- 
ices, and with the ashes of some of their Aztec 
princes who had fancied this airy sepulcher. Be- 
fore each sanctuary stood an altar, with that un- 
dying fire upon it, the extinction of which boded 
as much evil to the empire as that of the Vestal 
flame would have done in ancient Rome. Here 
also was the huge cylindrical drum made of ser- 
pents' skins, and struck only on extraordinary oc- 
casions, when it sent forth a melancholy, weird 
sound, that might be heard for miles" over the 
country, indicating fierce anger of deity against 
the enemies of Mexico. 

As Cortes reached the summit he was met by 
the Emperor himself attended by the high priest. 



15© EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



Taking the general by the hand, Montezuma 
pointed out the chief localities in the wide pros- 
pect which their position commanded, including 
not only the capital, "bathed on all sides by the 
salt floods of the Tezcuco, and in the distance the 
clear fresh waters of Lake Chalco," but the whole 
of the Valley of Mexico to the base of the cir- 
cular range of mountains, and the wreaths of 
vapor rolling up from the hoary head of Popo- 
catepetl. 

Cortes was allowed "to behold the shrines of 
the gods. They found themselves in a spacious 
apartment, with sculptures on the walls, repre- 
senting the Mexican calendar, or the priestly 
ritual. Before the altar in this sanctuary stood 
the colossal image of Huitzilopochtli, the tutelary 
deity and war-god of the Aztecs. His counte- 
nance was distorted into hideous lineaments of 
symbolical import. The huge folds of a serpent, 
consisting of pearls and precious stones, were 
coiled round his waist, and the same rich mate- 
rials were profusely sprinkled over his person. 
On his left foot were the delicate feathers of the 
humming-bird, which gave its name to the dread 
deity. The most conspicuous ornament was a 
chain of gold and silver hearts alternate, sus- 
pended round his neck, emblematical of the sacri- 
fice in which he most delighted. A more un- 
equivocal evidence of this was afforded by three 
human hearts that now lay smoking on the altar 
before him. 

"The adjoining sanctuary was dedicated to a 
milder deity. This was Tezcatlipoca, who created 
the world, next in honor to that invisible being 
the Supreme God, who was represented by no 



CORTES AND MONTEZUMA 151 



image, and confined by no temple. He was rep- 
resented as a young man, and his image of pol- 
ished black stone was richly garnished with gold 
plates and ornaments. But the homage to this 
god was not always of a more refined or merci- 
ful character than that paid to his carnivorous 
brother." 

According to Diaz, whom we have already 
quoted, the stench of human gore in both those 
chapels was more intolerable than that of all the 
slaughter-houses in Castile. Glad to escape into 
the open air, Cortes expressed wonder that a 
great and wise prince like Montezuma could have 
faith "in such evil spirits as these idols, the repre- 
sentatives of the devil ! Permit us to erect here 
the true cross, and place the images of the Blessed 
Virgin and her Son in these sanctuaries ; you will 
soon see how your false gods will shrink before 
them !" 

This extraordinary speech of the general 
shocked Montezuma, who, in reproof, said : "Had 
I thought you would have offered this outrage to 
the gods of the Aztecs, I would not have admitted 
you into their presence." 

Cortes, as a general, had some of the great 
qualities of Napoleon, but he also resembled him 
occasionally in a singular lack of delicacy and 
good taste. We do not, however, find that he ever 
showed such mean malignity as the French gen- 
eral did when persecuting Madame de Stael, 
because in her Germany she had omitted to men- 
tion his campaigns and administration. 

Within the same enclosure, Cortes and his 
companions visited a temple dedicated to Quet- 
zalcoatl, a god referred to already. Other build- 



I5 2 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

ings served as seminaries for the instruction of 
youth of both sexes ; and according to the Spanish 
accounts of the teaching and management of 
these institutions there was "the greatest care for 
morals and the most blameless deportment." 

SEIZURE OF MONTEZUMA 

After being guest of the Mexican Emperor for 
a week, Cortes resolved to carry out a most 
daring and unprecedented scheme — a purely 
"Napoleonic movement," such as could scarcely 
have entered the brain of any general ancient or 
modern. He argued with himself that a quarrel 
might at any moment break out between his men 
and the citizens ; the Spaniards again could not 
remain long quiet unless actively employed ; and, 
thirdly, there was still greater danger with the 
Tlascalans, "a fierce race now in daily contact 
with a nation that regards them with loathing 
and detestation." Lastly, the Governor of Cuba, 
already grossly offended with Cortes, might at 
any moment send after him a sufficient army to 
wrest from him the glory of conquest. Cortes 
therefore formed the daring resolve to seize Mon- 
tezuma in his palace and carry him as a prisoner 
to the Spanish quarters. He hoped thus to have 
in his own hands the supreme management of 
affairs, and at the same time secure his own safety 
with such a "sacred pledge" in keeping. 

It was necessary to find a pretext for seizing 
the hospitable Montezuma. News had already 
come to Cortes, when at Cholula, that Escalante, 
whom he had left in charge of Vera Cruz, had 
been defeated by the Aztecs in a pitched bat-' 



CORTES AND MONTEZUMA 1 53 



tie, and that the head of a Spaniard, then slain, 
had been sent to the Emperor, after being shown 
in triumph throughout some of the chief cities. 

Cortes asked an audience from Montezuma, 
and that being readily granted, he prepared for 
his plot by having a large body of armed men 
posted in the courtyard. Choosing five com- 
panions of tried courage, Cortes then entered the 
palace, and after being graciously received, told 
Montezuma that he knew of the treachery that 
had taken place near the coast, and that the Em- 
peror was said to be the cause. 

The Emperor said that such a charge could 
only have been concocted by his enemies. He 
agreed with the proposal of Cortes to summon the 
Aztec chief who was accused of treachery to the 
garrison at Vera Cruz ; and was then persuaded 
to transfer his residence to the palace occupied 
by the Spaniards. He was there received and 
treated with ostentatious respect ; but his people 
observed that in front of the palace there was 
constantly posted a patrol of sixty soldiers, -with 
another equally large in the rear. 

When the Aztec chief arrived from the coast, 
he and his sixteen Aztec companions were con- 
demned to be burned alive before the palace. 

The next daring act of the Spanish general was 
to order iron fetters to be fastened on Monte- 
zuma's ankles. The great Emperor seemed 
struck with stupor and spoke never a word. 
Meanwhile the Aztec chiefs were executed in 
the courtyard without interruption, the populace 
imagining the sentence had been passed upon 
them by Montezuma, and the victims submitting 
to their fate without a murmur. 



154 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



Cortes returning then to the room where Mon- 
tezuma was imprisoned, unclasped the fetters and 
said he was now at liberty to return to his own 
palace. The Emperor, however, declined the 
offer. 

The instinctive sense of human sympathy must 
have frequently been not only repressed but ex- 
tinguished by all the great conquerinp" generals 
who have crushed nations under foot. Besides 
those of prehistoric times in Asia and Europe, we 
have examples in Alexander the Greek, Julius 
Caesar the Roman, Cortes and Pizarro the Span- 
iards, Frederick the Prussian, and Xapoleon the 
Corsican. 

The great French general consciously aimed at 
dramatic effect in his exploits, but how paltry his 
seizing the Due d'Enghien at dead of night by 
a troop of soldiers, or his coercing the King of 
Spain to resign his sovereignty after inducing 
him to cross the border into France. In the un- 
paralleled case of Cortes, a powerful emperor is 
seized by a few strangers at noonday and carried 
off a prisoner without opposition or bloodshed. 
So extraordinary a transaction, says Robertson, 
would appear "extravagant beyond the bounds of 
probability" were it not that all the circumstances 
are "authenticated by the most unquestionable 
evidence." 

The nephew of Montezuma, Cakama, the lord 
of Tezcuco, had been closely watching all the mo- 
tions of the Spaniards. He "beheld with indig- 
nation and contempt the abject condition of his 
uncle ; and now set about forming a league with 
several of the neighboring caziques to break the 
detested yoke of the Spaniards." News of this 



CORTES AND MONTEZUMA 



155 



league reached the ears of Cortes, and arresting 
him with the permission of Montezuma, he de- 
posed him, and appointed a younger brother in his 
place. The other caziques were seized, each in 
his own city, and brought to Mexico, where 
Cortes placed them in strict confinement along 
with Cakama. 

The next step taken by Cortes was to demand 
from Montezuma an acknowledgment of the su- 
premacy of the Spanish Emperor. The Aztec 
monarch and chief caziques easily granted this; 
and even agreed that a gratuity should be sent by 
each of them as proof of loyalty. Collectors were 
sent out, and "in a few weeks most of them re- 
turned, bringing back large quantities of gold 
and silver plate, rich stuffs, etc." To this Mon- 
tezuma added a huge hoard, the treasures of his 
father. When brought into the quarters, the gold 
alone was sufficient to make three great heaps. It 
consisted partly of native grains, and partly of 
bars ; but the greatest portion was in utensils, and 
various kinds of ornaments and curious toys, to- 
gether with imitations of birds, insects, or flow- 
ers, executed with uncommon truth and delicacy. 
There were also quantities of collars, bracelets, 
wands, fans, and other trinkets, in which the gold 
and feather-work were richly powdered with 
pearls and precious stones. Montezuma expressed 
regret that the treasure was no larger; he had 
"diminished it," he said, "by his former gifts to 
the white men." 

The Spaniards gazed on this display of riches, 
far exceeding all hitherto seen in the New World 
— though small compared with the quantity of 
treasure found in Peru. The whole amount of 



I5 6 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

this Mexican gift was about £1,417,000, accord- 
ing to Prescott, Dr. Robertson making it smaller. 

It was no easy task to divide the spoil. A 
fifth had to be deducted for the Crown, and an 
equal share went to the general, besides a "large 
sum to indemnify him and the Governor of Cuba 
for the charges of the expedition and the loss of 
the fleet. The garrison of Vera Cruz was also to 
be provided for. The cavalry, musketeers, and 
crossbowmen each received double pay." Thus 
for each of the common soldiers there was only 
100 gold pesos — i. e., £2^X100 = £262 10s. To 
many this share seemed paltry, compared with 
their expectations ; and it required all the tact 
and authority of Cortes to quell the grumbling. 

There still remained one important object of 
the Spanish invasion, an object which Cortes as 
a good Catholic dared not overlook — the conver- 
sion of the Aztec nation from heathenism. The 
bloody ritual of the teocallis was still observed in 
every city. Cortes waited on Montezuma, urging 
a request that the great temple be assigned for 
public worship according to the Christian rites. 

Montezuma was evidently much alarmed, de- 
claring that his people would never allow such a 
profanation, but at last, after consulting the priest, 
agreed that one of the sanctuaries on the sum- 
mit of the temple should be granted to the Chris- 
tians as a place of worship. 

An altar was raised, surmounted by a crucifix 
and the image of the Virgin. The whole army 
ascended the steps in solemn procession and 
listened with silent reverence to the service of 
the mass. In conclusion, "as the beautiful Te 
Deum rose toward heaven, Cortes and his sol- 



CORTES AND MONTEZUMA 157 



diers kneeling on the ground, with tears stream- 
ing from their eyes, poured forth their gratitude 
to the Almighty for this glorious triumph of the 
cross." Such a union of heathenism and Chris- 
tianity was too unnatural to continue. 

A few days later the Emperor sent for Cortes 
and earnestly advised him to leave the country 
at once. Cortes replied that ships were neces- 
sary. Montezuma agreed to supply timber and 
workmen, and in a short time the construction of 
several ships was begun at Vera Cruz on the sea- 
coast, while in the capital the garrison kept itself 
ready by day and by night for a hostile attack. 
Only six months had elapsed since the arrival of 
the Spaniards in the capital, 15 19, and now the 
army was in more uncomfortable circumstances 
than ever. 

Meanwhile, while Cortes had been reducing 
Mexico and humbling the unfortunate Monte- 
zuma, the Governor of Cuba had complained to 
the court of Spain, but without success. Charles 
V, since his election to the imperial crown of 
Germany, had neglected the affairs of Spain ; and 
when the envoys from Vera Cruz waited upon 
him, little came of the conference except the 
astonishment of the court at the quantity of 
gold, and the beautiful workmanship of the orna- 
ments and the rich colors of the Mexican feather- 
work. The opposition of the Bishop of Burgos 
thwarted the conqueror of Mexico, as he had al- 
ready successfully opposed the schemes of the 
"Great Admiral" and his son Diego Columbus. 
We shall presently see how this influential eccle- 
siastic was able to thwart Balboa when governor 
of Darien. 



I5 8 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

Velasquez was now determined to wreak his 
revenge upon Cortes without waiting longer for 
assistance from Spain. He prepared an expedi- 
tion of eighteen ships with eighty horsemen, 800 
infantry, 120 crossbowmen, and twelve pieces of 
artillery. To command these Velasquez chose a 
hidalgo named Narvaez, who had assisted for- 
merly in subduing Cuba and Hispaniola. The 
personal appearance of Narvaez, as given by 
Diaz, is worth quoting: 

He was tall, stout-limbed, with a large head and red 
beard, an agreeable presence, a voice deep and sonorous, 
as if it rose from a cavern. He was a good horseman and 
valiant. 

Meanwhile Cortes persuaded Montezuma that 
some friends from Spain had arrived at Vera 
Cruz, and therefore got permission to leave him 
and the capital in charge of Alvarado and a small 
garrison. Montezuma, in his royal litter, borne 
on the shoulders of his Aztec nobles, accom- 
panied the Spanish general to the southern cause- 
way. 

When Cortes was within fifteen leagues' dis- 
tance of Zempoalla, where Narvaez was en- 
camped, the latter sent a message that if his au- 
thority were acknowledged he would supply ships 
to Cortes and his army so that all who wished 
might freely leave the country with all their prop- 
erty. 

Cortes, however, with his usual astuteness, re- 
plied: "If Narvaez bears a royal commission I 
will readily submit to him. But he has produced 
none. He is a deputy of my rival, Velasquez. 
For myself, I am a servant of the King; I have 



CORTES AND MONTEZUMA 1 59 



conquered the country for him; and for him I 
and my brave followers will defend it to the last 
drop of our blood. If we fall it will be glory 
enough to have perished in the discharge of our 
duty." 

Narvaez and his army were meantime spend- 
ing their time frivolously; and when the actual 
attack was begun in the dead of night, under a 
pouring rain-storm, it appeared that only two sen- 
tinels were on guard. Narvaez, badly wounded, 
w r as taken prisoner on the top of a tcocalh; and 
in a very short time his army was glad to capitu- 
late. The horse-soldiers whom Narvaez had sent 
to waylay one of the roads to Zempoalla, rode in 
soon after to tender their submission. The vic- 
torious general, seated in a chair of state, with a 
richly embroidered Mexican mantle on his shoul- 
ders, received his congratulations from the officers 
and soldiers of both armies. Narvaez and sev- 
eral others were led in chains. 

Cortes not only defeated Narvaez, but, after 
the battle, enlisted under his standard the Span- 
ish soldiers who had been sent to attack him — 
reminding one of the "magnetism" of Hannibal 
or Napoleon, and the consequent enthusiasm 
caused by mere presence, looks, and words. 

Before the rejoicings were finished, however, 
tidings were brought to Cortes from the Mexican 
capital that the whole city was in a state of re- 
volt against Alvarado. On his march back to the 
great plateau Cortes found the inhabitants of 
Tlascala still friendly and willing to assist as 
allies in the struggle against their ancient foes, 
the Mexicans. On reaching the camp of the Span- 
iards in Mexico, Cortes found that Alvarado had 



l6o EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



provoked the insurrection by a massacre of the 
Aztec populace. 

Having entered the precincts with his army, 
Cortes at once made anxious preparations for the 
siege which was threatened by the Aztecs, now 
assembling in thousands. 

As the assailants approached "they set up a 
hideous yell, or rather that shrill whistle used in 
fight by the nations of Anahuac," accompanied by 
the sound of shell and atabal and their other rude 
instruments of wild music. This was followed 
by a tempest of missiles, stones, darts, and arrows. 
The Spaniards waited until the foremost column 
had arrived within distance, when a general dis- 
charge of artillery and muskets swept the ranks 
of the assailants. Never till now had the Mexi- 
cans witnessed the murderous power of these 
formidable engines. At first they stood aghast, 
but soon rallying, they rushed forward over the 
prostrate bodies of their comrades. 

Pressing on, some of" them tried to scale the 
parapet, while others tried to force a breach in it. 
When the parapet proved too strong they shot 
burning arrows upon the wooden outworks. 

Next day there were continually fresh supplies 
of warriors added to the forces of the assailants, 
so that the danger of the situation was greatly 
increased. Diaz, an onlooker, thus wrote: 

The Mexicans fought with such ferocity that if we had 
been assisted by 10,000 Hectors and as many Orlandos, 
we should have made no impression on them There were 
several of our troops who had served in the Italian wars, 
but neither there nor in the battles with the Turks had they 
ever seen anything like the desperation shown by these 
Indians. 



CORTES AND MONTEZUMA l6l 



Cortes at last drew of! his men and sounded a 
retreat, taking refuge in the fortress. The Mexi- 
cans encamped round it, and during the night in- 
sulted the besieged, shouting, "The gods have at 
last delivered you into our hands: the stone of 
sacrifice is ready: the knives are sharpened." 

Cortes now felt that he had not fully under- 
stood the character of the Mexicans. The pa- 
tience and submission formerly shown in defer- 
ence to the injured Montezuma was now replaced 
by concentrated arrogance and ferocity. The 
Spanish general even stooped to request the inter- 
position of the Aztec Emperor ; and, at last, when 
assured that the foreigners would leave his coun- 
try if a way were opened through the Mexican 
army he agreed to use his influence. For this 
purpose 

he put on his imperial robes; his mantle of white and blue 
Sowed over his shoulders, held together by its rich clasp of 
the green chalchivitl. The same precious gem, with emer- 
alds of uncommon size, set in gold, profusely ornamented 
other parts of his dress. His feet were shod with the golden 
sandals, and his brows covered with the Mexican diadem, 
resembling in form the pontifical tiara. Thus attired and 
surrounded by a guard of Spaniards, and several Aztec 
nobles, and preceded by the golden wand, the symbol of 
sovereignty, the Indian monarch ascended the central 
turret of the palace. 

At the sight of Montezuma all the Mexican 
army became silent, partly, no doubt, from curi- 
osity. He assured them that he was no prisoner ; 
that the strangers were his friends, and would 
leave Mexico of their own accord as soon as a 
way was opened, 
ii 



162 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

To call himself a friend of the hateful Span- 
iards was a fatal argument. Instead of respecting 
their monarch, though in his official robes, the 
populace howled angry curses at him as a de- 
generate Aztec, a coward, no longer a warrior or 
even a man ! 

A cloud of missiles was hurled at Montezuma, 
and he was struck to the ground by the blow of 
a stone on his head. The unfortunate monarch 
only survived his wounds for a few days, disdain- 
ing to take any nourishment, or to receive advice 
from the Spanish priests. 

Meanwhile, Cortes and his army met with an 
unexpected danger. A large body of the Indian 
warriors had taken possession of the great tem- 
ple, at a short distance from the Spanish quar- 
ters. From this commanding position they kept 
shooting a deadly flight of arrows on the Span- 
iards. Cortes sent his chamberlain, Escobar, with 
a body of men to storm the temple, but, after 
three efforts, the party had to relinquish the at- 
tempt. Cortes himself then led a storming party, 
and after some determined fighting reached the 
platform at the top of the temple where the two 
sanctuaries of the Aztec deities stood. This large 
area was now the scene of a desperate battle, 
fought in sight of the whole capital as well as of 
the Spanish troops still remaining in the court- 
yard. 

This struggle between such deadly enemies 
caused dreadful carnage on both sides : 

The edge of the area was unprotected by parapet or bat- 
tlement; and the combatants, as they struggled in mortal 
agony, were sometimes seen to roll over the sheer sides of 



CORTES AND MONTEZUMA 1 63 

the precipice together. Cortes himself had a narrow escape 
from this dreadful fate . . . The number of the enemy 
was double that of the Christians; but the invulnerable 
p,rmor of the Spaniard, his sword of matchless temper, and 
his skill in the use of it, gave him advantages which far out- 
weighed the odds of physical strength and numbers. 

This unparalleled scene of bloodshed lasted for 
three hours. Of the Mexicans "two or three 
priests only survived to be led away in triumph" ; 
yet the loss of the Spaniards was serious enough, 
amounting to forty-five of their best men. Nearly 
all the others were wounded, some seriously. 

After dragging the uncouth monster, Huitzilo- 
pochtli, from his sanctuary, the assailants hurled 
the repulsive image down the steps of the temple, 
and then set fire to the building. The same 
evening they burned a large part of the town. 

Cortes now resolved upon a night retreat from 
the capital ; but when marching along one of the 
causeways they were attacked by the Mexicans in 
such numbers that, when morning dawned, the 
shattered battalion was reduced to less than half 
its number. In after years that disastrous retreat 
was known to the Spanish chroniclers as Noche 
Triste, the "Night of Sorrows." 

After a hurried six days' march before the 
pursuers, Cortes gained a victory so signal that 
an alliance was speedily formed with Tlascala 
against Mexico. Cortes built twelve brigantines 
at Vera Cruz in order to secure the command of 
Lake Tescuco and thus attempt the reduction of 
the Mexican capital. On his return to the great 
lake he found that the throne was now occupied 
by Guatimozin, a nephew of Montezuma. Using 
their brigantines the Spanish soldiers now began 



1 64 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

the siege of Mexico — "the most memorable event 
in the conquest of America." It lasted seventy- 
five days, during which the whole of the capital 
was reduced to ruins. Guatimozin, the last of the 
Aztec emperors, was condemned by the Spanish 
general to be hanged on the charge of treason. 

Cortes was now master of all Mexico. The 
Spanish court and people were full of admiration 
for his victories and the extent of his conquests ; 
and Charles V appointed him "Captain-General 
and Governor of New Spain." On revisiting Eu- 
rope, the Emperor honored him with the order 
of St. Jago and the title of marquis. Latterly, 
however, after some failures in his exploring ex- 
ditions, Cortes, on his return to Spain, found 
himself treated with neglect. It was then, accord- 
ing to Voltaire's story, that when Charles asked 
the courtiers, "Who is that man?" referring to 
Cortes, the latter said aloud : "It is one, sire, that 
has added more provinces to your dominions than 
any other governor has added towns !" Cortes 
died in his sixty-second year, December 2, 1547* 



CHAPTER VIII 

BALBOA AND THE ISTHMUS 

In the Spanish conquest of America there are 
three great generals : Cortes, Balbao, and Pizarro. 
The third may to many readers seem immeasur- 
ably superior as explorer and conqueror to the 
second, but it must be remembered that Pizarro's 
scheme of discovering and invading Peru was 
precisely that which Balboa had already pre- 



BALBOA AND THE ISTHMUS 165 



pared. Pizarro could afford to say, "Others have 
labored, and I have merely entered into their 
labors." 

What, then, was the work done by Balboa, and 
what prevented him from taking Peru? In 15 10, 
the year before the conquest of Cuba, Balboa was 
glad to escape from Hispaniola, not to avoid the 
Spanish cruelties, like Hatuey, the luckless ca- 
zique, but to escape from his Spanish creditors. 
So anxious was he to get on board that he con- 
cealed himself in a cask to avoid observation. 
Balboa, however, had administrative qualities, 
and after taking possession of the uncleared dis- 
trict of Darien in the name of the King of Spain, 
he was appointed governor of the new province. 
He built the town Santa Maria on the coast of 
the Darien Gulf ; but so pestilential was the dis- 
trict (and still is) that the settlers were glad after 
a short time to remove to the other side of the 
isthmus. 

It was by mere accident that Balboa first heard 
of a great ocean beyond the mountains of Darien, 
and of the enormous wealth of Peru, a country 
hitherto unknown to Spain or Europe. As sev- 
eral soldiers were one day disputing about the 
division of some gold-dust, an Indian cazique 
called out : 

"Why quarrel about such a trifle ? I can show 
you a region where the commonest pots and pans 
are made of that metal." 

To the inquiries of Balboa and his companions, 
the cazique replied that by traveling six days to 
the south they should see another ocean, near 
which lay the wealthy kingdom. 

Resolving to cross the isthmus, notwithstand- 



1 66 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



ing a thousand formidable obstructions, Balboa 
formed a party consisting of 190 veterans, accom- 
panied by 1,000 Indians, and several fierce dogs 
trained to hunt the naked natives. Such were 
the difficulties that the "six days' journey" occu- 
pied twenty-five before the ridge of the isthmus 
range was reached. 

Balboa commanded his men to halt, and advanced alone 
to the summit, that he might be the first who should enjoy 
a spectacle which he had so long desired. As soon as he 
beheld the sea stretching in endless prospect below him he 
fell on his knees; . . . his followers observing his trans- 
ports of joy rushed forward to join in his wonder, exulta- 
tion, and gratitude. 

That was the moment, September 25, 15 13, 
immortalized in Keats's sonnet : 

When with eagle eyes 
He stared at the Pacific, and all his men 
Looked at each other with a wild surmise, 
Silent, upon a peak in Darien. 

Balboa hurried down the western slope of the 
isthmus range to take formal possession in the 
name of the Spanish monarch. He found a fish- 
ing village there which had been named Panama 
(i. e., "plenty fish") by the Indians, but had also 
a reputation for the pearls found in its bay. 

In his letter to Spain, Balboa said, to illustrate 
the difficulties of the expedition, that of all the 
190 men in his party there were never more than 
eighty fit for service at one time. Notwithstand- 
ing the wonderful news of the discovery of the 
"great southern ocean," as the Pacific was then 
called, Ferdinand overlooked the great services 



BALBOA AND THE ISTHMUS 



167 



of Balboa, and appointed a new Governor of 
Darien called Pedrarias, who instituted a judicial 
inquiry into some previous transactions of Bal- 
boa, imposing a heavy fine as punishment. The 
new governor committed other acts of great im- 
prudence, and at length Ferdinand felt that he 
had only superseded the most active and experi- 
enced officer he had in the New World. To make 
amends to Balboa, he was appointed "Lieutenant- 
Governor of the Countries upon the South Sea," 
with great privileges and authority. At the same 
time Pedrarias was commanded to "support Bal- 
boa in all his operations, and to consult with him 
concerning every measure which he himself pur- 
sued." 

Balboa, in 15 17, began his preparations for 
entering the South Sea and conveying troops 
to the country which he proposed to invade. 
With four small brigantines and 300 chosen 
soldiers (a force superior to that with which 
Pizarro afterward undertook the same expedi- 
tion), he was on the point of sailing toward the 
coasts of which they had such expectations, when 
a message arrived from Pedrarias. Balboa being 
unconscious of crime, agreed to delay the expedi- 
tion, and meet Pedrarias for conference. On 
entering the palace Balboa was arrested and im- 
mediately tried on the charge of disloyalty to the 
King and intention of revolt against the gov- 
ernor. He was speedily sentenced to death, al- 
though the accusation was so absurd that the 
judges who pronounced the sentence "seconded 
by the whole colony, interceded warmly for his 
pardon." "The Spaniards beheld with astonish- 
ment and sorrow the public execution of a man 



1 68 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



whom they universally deemed more capable than 
any who had borne command in America, of 
forming and accomplishing- great designs." This 
gross injustice amounting to a public scandal was 
accounted for by the malignant influence of the 
Bishop of Burgos, in Spain, who was the orig- 
inal cause of Balboa being superseded as Gov- 
ernor of Darien. 

The expedition designed by Balboa was now 
relinquished ; but the removal of the colony soon 
afterward to the Pacific side of the isthmus may 
be considered a step toward the realization of an 
exactly similar attempt by Pizzaro. 

To some historical readers the word "Darien" 
only recalls the bitter prejudice entertained 
against William III, our "Dutch King," notwith- 
standing the special pleading of Lord Macaulay 
and others. Some Scottish merchants had 
adopted a scheme recommended by the most 
reliable authorities * of that age, viz., the settle- 
ment of a half-commercial, half-military colony 
on the Atlantic coast of the isthmus. Such a 
company, in the words of Paterson, would be 
masters of the "door of the seas," and the ''key 
of the universe." The East India Companies 
both of England and Holland showed an envious 
jealousy of the Scottish merchants, and therefore 
no assistance was to be expected from the King, 
although he had given his royal sanction to the 
Scots Act of Parliament creating the company. 
The Scottish people, however, zealously contin- 
ued the scheme. Some 1,200 men "set sail from 

* E.g., Paterson, founder of the Bank of England, Fletcher 
of Saltoun, the Marquis of Tweeddale, then chief Minister of 
Scotland, Sir John Dalrymple, etc. 



BALBOA AND THE ISTHMUS 1 69 

Leith amid the blessings of many thousands of 
their assembled countrymen. They reached the 
Gulf of Darien in safety, and established them- 
selves on the coast in localities to which they gave 
the names of New Caledonia and New St. An- 
drews." The Government of Spain (secretly in- 
stigated, it was believed, by the English King) 
resolved to attack the embryo colony. The ship- 
wreck of the whole scheme soon followed, due 
undoubtedly more to the jealousy of the English 
merchants (who believed that any increase of 
trade in Scotland or Ireland was a positive loss 
to England) and the bad faith of our Dutch King, 
than to all other causes whatever. Of the colony, 
according to Dalrymple (ii, 103), not more than 
thirty ever saw their own country again. 

In 1526 a company of English merchants was 
formed to trade with the West Indies and the 
"Spanish Main," and commanded great success. 
Other merchants did the same. Soon after the 
Spanish court instituted a coast-guard to make 
war upon these traders ; and as they had full 
power to capture and slay all who did not bear 
the King of Spain's commission, there were ter- 
rible tales told in Europe of mutilation, torture, 
and revenge. The Windward Islands having 
been gradually settled by French and English 
adventurers, Frederick of Toledo was sent with a 
large fleet to destroy those petty colonies. This 
harsh treatment rendered the planters desperate, 
and under the name of buccaneers,* they con- 
tinued "a retaliation so horribly savage [v. Notes 

* Named from boncan, a kind of preserved meat, used by 
those rovers. They had learned this peculiar art of preserving 
from the native Caribs. 



170 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

to Rokeby] that the perusal makes the reader 
shudder. From piracy at sea, they advanced to 
making predatory descents on the Spanish terri- 
tories ; in which they displayed the same furious 
and irresistible valor, the same thirst of spoil, 
and the same brutal inhumanity to their cap- 
tives." The pride and presumption of Spain 
were partly resisted by the English monarchs, but 
not with real effect before the time of Cromwell, 
strongest of all the rulers of Britain. Under his 
government of the seas Spain was deprived of 
the island of Jamaica ; and the buccaneers to their 
disgust found that the flag of the great Protector 
was a check against all piracy and injustice. 

Under Charles II, however, the buccaneers re- 
sumed their conflict with the Spanish, and in 
1670, Henry Morgan, with 1,500 English and 
French ruffians resolved to cross the isthmus 
like Balboa, to plunder the depositories of gold 
and silver which lay in the city of Panama and 
other places on the Pacific coast. Having stormed 
a strong fortress at the mouth of the Chagres 
River, they forced their way through the en- 
tangled forests for ten days, and after much 
hardship reached Panama, to find it defended by 
a regular army of twice their number. The 
Spaniards, however, were beaten, and Morgan 
thoroughly sacked and plundered the city, taking 
captive all the chief citizens in order to extort 
afterward large ransoms. 

Ten years afterward the Isthmus of Darien 
was crossed by Dampier, another celebrated buc- 
caneer, but his party was too small to attack 
Panama. They seized some Spanish vessels in 
the bay and plundered all the coast for some dis- 



BALBOA AND THE ISTHMUS 171 



tance. The following description by the bold 
buccaneer is not without interest to those who 
consider the present importance of the place : 

Near the riverside stands New Panama, a very hand- 
some city, in a spacious bay of the same name, into which 
disembogue many long and navigable rivers, some whereof 
are not without gold; besides that it is beautified by many 
pleasant isles, the country about it affording a delightful 
prospect to the sea. . . The houses are chiefly of brick 
and pretty lofty, especially the president's, the churches, 
the monasteries, and other public structures, which make 
the best show I have seen in the West Indies. 

The present prosperity of Panama is due to 
its large transit trade, which was recently esti- 
mated at £15,000,000 a year. The pearl-fisheries, 
famous at the time of Balboa's visit, have now 
little value. The narrowest breadth of the isth- 
mus being only thirty miles, there have naturally 
been many engineering proposals to connect the 
Pacific and Atlantic oceans by a canal. M. de 
Lesseps founded a French company in 1881 for 
the construction of a ship-canal with eight locks, 
and over forty-six miles in length ; but in 1889, 
the excavations stopped after some 48^ millions 
of cubic meters of earth and rock had been re- 
moved. Meanwhile a railway 47^2 miles long 
connects Colon on the Atlantic with Panama on 
the Pacific. 

The Mexican Isthmus of Tehuantepec, only 
140 miles across, separates the Bay of Cam- 
peachy from the Pacific, and failing the Panama 
Canal some engineers were in favor of a ship- 
railway for conveying large vessels bodily from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific. The scheme met with 



I7 2 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

great favor in the United States, but has not yet 
been carried out. 

The third proposal for connecting the two 
great oceans is probably the most feasible because 
it follows the most deeply marked depression of 
the isthmus. The Nicaraguan Ship-canal will, 
if the scheme be carried out, pass from Greytown 
on the Atlantic to Brito on the Pacific, about 170 
miles apart, through the republic of Nicaragua, 
which lies north of Panama and south of Guate- 
mala. One obvious advantage of this ship-canal 
is that the great lake is utilized, affording already 
about one-third of the waterway; only twenty- 
eight miles, in fact, being actual canal, and the 
rest river, lake, and lagoon navigation. In the 
latest specifications the engineers proposed to 
dam up the river (San Juan) by a stone wall 
seventy feet high and 1,900 feet long, thus rais- 
ing the water to a level of 106 feet above the sea. 
Only three locks will be required to work the 
Nicaraguan Ship-canal. 



CHAPTER IX 
EXTINCT CIVILIZATION OF PERU 

§ (A) Peruvian Archeology 

As the extinct civilization of the Incas of Peru 
is the most important phase of development 
among all the American races, so also their pre- 
historic remains are extremely interesting to the 
archeologist. 



EXTINCT CIVILIZATION OF PERU 173 



I. Architecture. — In the interior of the country 
we find many remarkable examples of stone build- 
ing, such as walls of huge polygonal stones, four- 
sided or five-sided or six-sided, some six feet 
across, laid without mortar, and so finely polished 
and adjusted that the blade of a knife can not be 
inserted between them. The strength of the 
masonry is sometimes assisted by having the 
projecting parts of a stone fitting into corre- 




Monolith Doorway. Near Lake Titicaca. Fig. I. 



sponding hollows or recesses in the stone above 
or below it. The stones being frequently ex- 
tremely hard granite, or basalt, etc., antiquarian 
travelers have wondered how in early times the 
natives could have cut and polished them without 
any metal tools. The ordinary explanation is 
that the work was done by patiently rubbing one 
stone against another, with the aid of sharp 
sand, "time being no object' , in the case of the 
laborers among savage and primitive races. It 
is believed by most antiquaries that long before 



174 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



the period of the Incas there was a powerful em- 
pire to which we must attribute such Cyclopean 
ruins ; especially as the construction and style 
differ so greatly from what is found in the Inca 
period. The huge stones occur at Tiahuanacu 
(near Lake Titicaca), Cuzco, Ollantay, and the 
altar of Concacha. Fig. I is a broken doorway 
at Tiahuanacu, composed of huge monoliths. 
Fig. 2 is an enlargement of an image over the 
doorway shown in Fig. I. The doorway forms 
the entrance to a quadrangular area (400 yards 
by 350) surrounded by large stones standing on 
end. The gateway or doorway of Fig. 1 is one 
of the most marvelous stone monuments existing, 
being one block of hard rock, deeply sunk in the 
ground. The present height is over seven feet. 
The whole of the inner side "from a line level 
with the upper lintel of the doorway to the top" 
is a mass of sculpture, "which speaks to us," says 
Sir C. R. Markham, "in difficult riddles of the 
customs and art culture, of the beliefs and tradi- 
tions of an ancient" extinct civilization. 

The figure in high relief above the doorway 
(Fig. 2) is a head surrounded by rays, "each 
terminating in a circle or the head of an animal." / 
Six human heads hang from the girdle, and two 
more from the elbows. Each hand holds a 
scepter terminating at the lower end with the 
head of a condor — that huge American vulture 
familiar to the Peruvians. That bird of prey was 
probably an emblem of royalty to the prehistoric 
dynasty now long forgotten. 

Some older historians speak of richly carved 
statues which formerly stood in this enclosure, 
and "many cylindrical pillars." Of the masonry 



Image over the doorway shown in Fig. z. 
Near Lake Titicaca. Fig. 2. 



17^ EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



of these ruins generally, Squier says : "The stone 
is faced with a precision that no skill can excel, 
its right angles turned with an accuracy that the 
most careful geometer could not surpass. I do 
not believe there exists a better piece of stone- 
cutting, the material considered, on this or the 
other continent." 

The fortress above Cuzco, the capital of the 
Incas, is considered the grandest monument of 
extinct American civilization. "Like the Pyra- 
mids and the Coliseum, it is imperishable. . . . 
A fortified work, 600 yards in length, built of 
gigantic stones, in three lines, forming walls sup- 
porting terraces and parapets. . . . The stones 
are of blue limestone, of enormous size and ir- 
regular in shape, but fitted into each other with 
rare precision. One stone is twenty-seven feet 
high by fourteen ; and others fifteen feet high by 
twelve are common throughout the work." 

In all the architecture of the prehistoric Peru- 
vians the true arch is not found, though there 
is an approach to the "Maya arch," formerly de- 
scribed, finishing the doorway overhead by over- 
lapping stones. 

The immense fortresses of Ollantay and Pisac 
are really hills which, by means of encircling 
walls, have been transformed into immense pyra- 
mids with many terraces rising above each 
other. All large buildings, such as temples and 
palaces, were laid out to agree with the "cardinal 
points," the principal entrance always facing the 
rising sun. The tomb construction of the an- 
cient Peruvians has been already noticed (v. 
chap. iv). 

To the south of Cuzco are the ruins of a 



EXTINCT CIVILIZATION OF PERU 177 

temple, Cacha, which is considered to be of a 
date between the Cyclopean structures already 
described and the Inca architecture. The chief 
part is 1 10 yards long, built of wrought stones ; 
and in the middle of the building from end to 
end runs a wall pierced by twelve high doorways. 
There were also two series of pillars which had 
formerly supported a floor. 

Those traces of the Cyclopean builders point 
to an extremely early date, but several students 
of the Peruvian antiquities point confidently to 
distinct evidence of a still more primitive race — 
to be compared, perhaps, with those builders of 
"Druidic monuments" whom it is now the fash- 
ion to call "neolithic men." Some "cromlechs" 
or burial-places have been found in Bolivia and 
other parts of Peru ; and in many respects they 
are parallel to the stone monuments found in 
Great Britain as well as Brittany and other parts 
of Europe. Some of those Peruvian cromlechs 
consist of four great slabs of slate, each about 
five feet high, four or five in width, and more 
than an inch thick. A fifth is placed over them. 
Over the whole a pyramid of clay and rough 
stones is piled. Possibly that race of cromlech 
builders bore the same relation to the temple 
builders described above that the builders of 
Kits Coty House, between Rochester and Maid- 
stone, bore to the temple builders of Stonehenge 
on Salisbury Plain. If they had to retreat, as 
the ice-sheet was driven farther from the torrid 
zone, then by the theory of the Glacial Period 
the Cromlech men in both cases would at last be 
simply Eskimos. 

2. Aqueducts— -The ancient Peruvians at- 

12 



178 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

tained great skill in the distribution of water — ■ 
especially for irrigation. Artificial lakes or res- 
ervoirs were formed, so that by damming up the 
streams in the rainy season a good supply was 
created for the dry season. Some great monu- 
ments still remain of their hydraulic engineer- 
ing, such as extensive cisterns, solid dikes along 
the rivers to prevent overflow, tunnels to drain 
lakes during an oversupply, and, in some places, 
artificial cascades. 

3. Roads and Bridges. — The roads and high- 
ways of the Incas were so excellent that "in 
many places they still offer by far the most con- 
venient avenues of transit. They are from fifteen 
to twenty-five feet in width, bedded with small 
stones often laid in concrete. As the use of 
beasts of burden was almost unknown, the roads 
did not ascend a steep inclination by zigzags but 
by steps cut in the rock. At certain distances 
public shelters were erected for travelers, and 
some of these still offer the best lodging-houses 
to be found along the routes. Bridges were of 
wood, of ropes made from maguey fiber, or of 
stone. Some of the latter are still in excellent 
condition, in spite of the violence of the moun- 
tain torrents which they have spanned for four 
centuries. 

4. Sculpture. — The Maya race of Yucatan and 
Central America were much superior to the pre- 
historic Peruvians in stone sculpture. Except 
those examples already referred to under 1, their 
artists have apparently produced nothing to show 
skill in workmanship, much less fertility of imag- 
ination. That is largely explained by their lack 
of suitable tools. 



EXTINCT CIVILIZATION OF PERU 179 



5. Goldsmith's Work. — In this branch of art 
the ancient Peruvians greatly excelled, especially 
in inlaying and gilding. Gold-beating and gild- 
ing had been prosecuted to remarkable delicacy, 
and the very thin layers of gold-leaf on many 
articles led the Spaniards at first to believe they 
were of the solid metal. These delicate layers 
showed ornamental designs, including birds, but- 
terflies, and the like. 

6. Pottery. — In this department of industrial 
art the prehistoric Peruvians showed much apti- 
tude both "in regard to variety of design and 
technical skill in preparing the material. Vases 
Avith pointed bottoms and painted sides recalling 
those of ancient Greece and Etruria are often 
disinterred along the coast." The merit of those 
artists lay in perfect imitation of natural objects, 
such as birds, fishes, fruits, plants, skulls, per- 
sons in various positions, faces (often with 
graphic individuality). Some jars exactly re- 
sembled the "magic vases" which are still found 
in Hindustan, and can be emptied only when held 
at a certain angle. 

7. Though ignorant of perspective and the 
rules of light and shade, these ancient Peruvians 
had an accurate eye for color. "Spinning, weav- 
ing, and dyeing," to quote Sir C. R. Markham, 
"were arts which were sources of employment to 
a great number, owing to the quantity and variety 
of the fabrics. . . . There were rich dresses 
interwoven with gold or made of gold thread ; 
fine woolen mantles ornamented with borders of 
small square plates of gold and silver; colored 
cotton cloths worked in complicated patterns ; 
and fabrics of aloe fiber and sheep's sinews for 



180 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



breeches. Coarser cloths of llama wool were also 
made in vast quantities. 

8. The quipu (i e., "knot"). — Without writing 
or even any of the simpler forms of pictographs 
which some Indian races inferior to them in re- 
finement had invented, the Peruvians had no 
means of sending a message relating to tribute or 
the number of warriors in an army, or a date, 




The Quipu. 



except the quipu. It consisted of one principal 
cord about two feet long held horizontally, to 
which other cords of various colors and lengths 
were attached, hanging vertically. The knots on 
the vertical cords, and their various lengths 
served by means of an arranged code to convey 
certain words and phrases. Each color and each 
knot had so many conventional significations ; 
thus white — silver, green — corn, yellow = 



EXTINCT CIVILIZATION OF PERU 181 



gold ; but in another quipu, white = peace, red = 
war, soldiers, etc. The quipu was originally only 
a means of numeration and keeping accounts, 
thus : 

a single &not = 10 r two singles — 20 
a double " = 100 two doubles = 200 
a triple " =1,000 etc. 

9. The great stone monuments described in 
our first section belonged, according to some 
writers, to a dynasty called Pirua, who ruled over 
the highlands of Peru and Bolivia long before the 
times of the Incas. That early race had as the 
center of their civilization the shores of Lake 
Titicaca. 

10. The Ancient Capital. — Cuzco, the center of 
government till the time of the conquest by the 
Spaniards, and for a long time the only city in 
the Peruvian empire, deserves a paragraph under 
the head archeology. Its wonderful fortress has 
already been referred to, and there are other 
Cyclopean remains, such as the great wall which 
contains the "stone of twelve corners." Some 
monuments of the Inca period also attract much 
attention, such as the Curi-cancha temple, 296 
feet long, the palace of Amaru-cancha (i. e., 
"place of serpents"), so called from the serpents 
sculptured in relief on the exterior. Of these 
and other buildings Squier remarks that the 
"joints are of a precision unknown in our archi- 
tecture; the world has nothing to show in the 
way of stone-cutting and fitting to surpass the 
skill and accuracy displayed in the Inca struc- 
tures of Cuzco." To obtain the site for their 
capital the Incas had to carry out a great en- 



1 82 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

gineering work, by confining two mountain tor- 
rents between walls of substantial masonry so 
solid as to serve even to modern times. The Val- 
ley of Cuzco was the source of the Peruvian civil- 
ization, center and origin of the empire. Hence 
the name, Cuzco — "navel," just as the ancient 
Greeks called Athens umbilicus terrce, and our 



Gold Ornament (? Zodiac) from a Tomb at Cuzco. 

New England cousins fondly refer to Boston, 
Mass., as "the hub of the universe" ! 

§ (B) Peru before the Arrival of the Spaniards 

The "national myth" of the Peruvians was that 
at Lake Titicaca two supernatural beings ap- 
peared, both children of the Sun. One was 
Manco Capac, the first Inca, who taught the 
people agriculture ; the other was his wife, who 




EXTINCT CIVILIZATION OF PERU 1 83 

taught the women to spin and weave. From 
them were lineally derived all the Incas. As 
representing the Sun, the Inca was high priest 
and head of the hierarchy, and therefore presided 
at the great religious festivals. He was the 
source from which everything flowed — all dig- 
nity, all power, all emolument. Louis le Mag- 
nifiqire when at the height of his power might 
be taken as a type of the emperor Inca : both 
coukl literally use the phrase, L'etat c'est Moi, 
"The State! I am the State!" 

In the royal palaces and dress great barbaric 
pomp was assumed. All the apartments were 
studded with gold and silver ornaments. 

The worship of the Sun, representing the 
Creator, the Dweller in Space, the Teacher and 
Ruler of the Universe,* was the religion of the 
Incas inherited from their distant ancestry. The 
great temple at Cuzco, with its gorgeous display 
of riches, was called "the place of gold, the abode 
of the Teacher of the Universe." An elliptical 
plate of gold was fixed on the wall to represent 
the Deity. 

Sufficient evidence is still visible of the en- 
gineering industry evinced by the natives before 
the arrival of Pizarro. We give some particulars 
of the two principal highways, both joining 
Quito to Cuzco, then passing south to Chile. 
First, the high level road, 1,600 miles in length, 
crossing the great Peruvian table-land, and con- 
ducted over pathless sierras buried in snow ; with 
galleries cut for leagues through the living rock, 
rivers crossed by means of bridges, and ravine? 
of hideous depth filled up with solid masonry. 

* According to Sir C. R. Markham, F. R. S. 



184 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 

The roadway consisted of heavy flags of free- 
stone. Secondly, the low level highway along the 
coast country between the Andes and the Pacific. 
The prehistoric engineers had here to encounter 
quite a different task. The causeway was raised 
on a high embankment of earth, with trees 
planted along the margin. In the strips of sandy 
waste, huge piles (many of them to be seen to 
this day) were driven into the ground to indi- 
cate the route. 

Another colossal effort was the conveyance of 
water to the rainless country by the seacoast, 
especially to certain parts capable of being re- 
claimed and made fertile. Some of the aqueducts 
were of great length — one measuring between 
400 and 500 miles. 

The following table gives the Peruvian calen- 
dar for a year : 



I. Raymi, the Festival of the Winter Solstice, 

in honor of the Sun . June 2 2d. 

Season of plowing . . July 2 2d. 

Season of sowing . . . August 22d. 

II. Festival of the Spring Equinox September 22& 

Season of brewing . . . October 2 2d. 

Commemoration of the Dead . November 22d. 

III. Festival of the Summer Solstice . December 22d. 

Season of exercises . . January 2 2d. 

Season of ripening . . . February 2 2d. 

rV. Festival of Autumn Equinox . March 22d. 

Beginning of harvest . . April 22d. 

Harvesting month . . . May 2 2d. 



Since Quito is exactly on the equator, the ver- 
tical rays of the sun at noon during the equinox 
cast no shadow. That northern capital, there- 



EXTINCT CIVILIZATION OF PERU 185 



fore, was ''held in especial veneration as the fa- 
vored abode of the great deity." 

At the feast of Raymi, or New Year's day, the 
sacrifice usually offered was that of the llama, a 
fire being kindled by means of a concave mirror 
of polished metal collecting the rays of the sun 
into a focus upon a quantity of dried cotton. 

The national festival of the Aztecs we com- 
pared to the secular celebration of the Romans ; 
so now the Raymi of the Peruvians may be 
likened to the Panathensea of ancient Athens, 
when the people of Attica ascended in splendid 
procession to the shrine on the Acropolis. 

In Mexico the Spanish travelers often experi- 
enced severe famines ; and in India, even at the 
present day (to the disgrace perhaps of our man- 
agement) nearly every year many thousands die 
of hunger. It was very different under the an- 
cient Peruvians, because by law "the product of 
the lands consecrated to the Sun, as well as those 
set apart for the Incas, was deposited in the Tam- 
bos, or public storehouses, as a stated provision 
for times of scarcity." 

The Spaniards found those prehistoric agricul- 
turists utilizing the inexhaustible supply of guano 
found on all the islands of the Pacific. It was 
not till the middle of the nineteenth century that 
the British farmer found the value of this fer- 
tilizer. 



l86 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



CHAPTER X 
PIZARRO AND THE INCAS 

When stout-hearted Balboa first reached the 
summit of the isthmus range and looked south 
over the Bay of Panama, he might have seen 
the "Silver Bell," which forms the summit of the 
mighty volcano Chimborazo. Still farther south 
in the same direction lay the "land of gold," of 
which he had heard. 

Balboa was unjustly prevented from exploring 
that unknown country, but among the Spanish 
soldiers in Panama there were two who de- 
termined to carry out Balboa's scheme. The 
younger, Pizarro, was destined to rival Cortes as 
explorer and conqueror; Almagro, his compan- 
ion in the expedition, was less crafty and cruel. 
Sailing from Panama, the Spanish first landed 
on the coast below Quito, and found the natives 
wearing gold and silver trinkets. On a second 
voyage, with more men, they explored the coast 
of Peru and visited Tumbez, a town with a lofty 
temple and a palace for the Incas. 

They beheld a country fully peopled and cultivated; the 
natives were decently clothed, and possessed of ingenuity 
so far surpassing the other inhabitants of the New World 
as to have the use of tame domestic animals. But what 
chiefly attracted the notice of the visitors was such a show 
of gold and silver, not only in ornaments, but in several 
vessels and utensils for common use, formed of those pre- 
cious metals as left no room to doubt that they abounded 
with profusion in the country. 



PIZARRO AND THE INCAS 1 87 



After his return Pizarro visited Spain and 
secured the patronage of Charles V, who ap- 
pointed him Governor and Captain-General of the 
newly discovered country. In the next voyage 
from Panama, Pizarro set sail with 180 soldiers 
in three small ships — "a contemptible force surely 
to invade the great empire of Peru." 

Pizarro was very fortunate in the time of his 
arrival, because two brothers were fiercely con- 
tending in civil war to obtain the sovereignty. 
Their father, Huana Capac, the twelfth Inca in 
succession from Manco Capac, had recently died 
after annexing the kingdom of Quito, and thus 
doubling the power of the empire. Pizarro 
made friends with Atahualpa, who had become 
Inca by the defeat and death of his brother, and 
a friendly meeting was arranged between them. 
The Peruvians are thus described by a Spanish 
onlooker : 

First of all there arrived 400 men in uniform; the Inca 
himself, on a couch adorned with plumes, and almost cov- 
ered with plates of gold and silver, enriched with precious 
stones, was carried on the shoulders of his principal attend- 
ants. Several bands of singers and dancers accompanied 
the procession; and the whole plain was covered with 
troops, more than 30,000 men. 

After engaging in a religious dispute with the 
Inca, who refused to acknowledge the authority 
of the Pope and threw the breviary on the ground, 
the Spanish chaplain exclaimed indignantly that 
the Word of God had been insulted by a heathen. 

Pizarro instantly gave the signal of assault: the martial 
music struck up, the cannon and muskets began to fire, the 



1 88 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



horse rallied out fiercely to the charge, the infantry rushed 
on sword in hand. The Peruvians, astonished at the sud- 
denness of the attack, dismayed with the effect of the fire- 
arms and the irresistible impression of the cavalry, fled 
with universal consternation on every side. Pizarro, at 
the head of his chosen band, soon penetrated to the royal 
seat, and seizing the Inca by the arm, carried him as a 
prisoner to the Spanish quarters. 

For his ransom Atahualpa agreed to pay a 
weight of gold amounting to more than five mil- 
lions sterling. 

Instead of keeping faith with the Inca by re- 
storing him to liberty, Pizarro basely allowed him 
to be tried on several false charges and con- 
demned to be burned alive. 

After hearing of the enormous ransom many 
Spaniards hurried from Guatemala, Panama, and 
Nicaragua to share in the newly discovered booty 
of Peru, the "land of gold." Pizarro, therefore, 
being now greatly reenforced with soldiers, 
''forced his way to Cuzco, the capital. The riches 
found there exceeded in value what had been re- 
ceived as Atahualpa's ransom. 

As Governor of Peru, Pizarro chose a new site 
for his capital, nearer the coast than Cuzco, and 
there founded Lima. It is now a great center of 
trade. Pizarro lived here in great state till the 
year 1542, when his fate reached him by means 
of a party of conspirators seeking to avenge the 
death of Almagro. his former rival, whom he had 
cruelly executed as a traitor. On Sunday, June 
26th, at midday, while all Lima was quiet under 
the siesta, the conspirators passed unobserved 
through the two outer courts of the palace, and 
speedily despatched the soldier-adventurer, in- 



PIZARRO AND THE INCAS 189 



trepidly defending himself with a sword and 
buckler. "A deadly thrust full in the throat," and 
the tale of daring Pizarro was told. 



Raro antecedentem scelestum 
Deseruit pede Poena claudo. 



When 

Did Doom, though lame, not bide its time, 
To clutch the nape of skulking Crime? 



W E. Gladstone. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Agathocles, 119. 

Agassiz, 73. 

Alfred, King, 19. 

Almagro, Pizarro's rival, 186, 189. 

Alvarado, 158, 159. 

America, Discoveries of, 19-35. 38-45 

48-53- . . 
America, origin of the name, 50. 
American Archeology, 71-79 (see also 

Aztec, Peru, Civilization). 
Amerigo (A mericus) , {see Vespucci). 
Anahuac, 56, 58, 63. 
Archeology, 71-88 (see under Aztec, 

Mexico, Peru, and Civilization, 

Extinct). 
Aristotle, shape of the earth, 10. 
Arthur, King, 19. 
Atahualpa, Inca, 187, 188. 
Atlantic, ridge, 15. 
Atlantis, island or continent, 14, 15. 
Avalon, 17.^ 

Aztecs, their traditions, 54, 56, 57, 62, 

Aztecs, antiquities, 55. 
Aztecs, kingdom, 58; empire founded, 
76. 

Aztecs, letters, etc., 58, 79-82. 

Aztecs, astronomy, 64, 65, 68, 83. 

Aztecs, human sacrifices, 59, 60, 62, 
102, 106; how explained by com- 
parison with Jews, Greeks, Druids, 
etc., 100-106. 

Aztecs, priesthood, 65, 67. 

Aztecs, religion, 92, 93 ; laws, 90. 

Aztecs, natural piety, 66-68. 

Aztecs, secular festival, 68-70. 

Aztecs, soldiery, 91, 92. 

Aztecs, agriculture, 94. 

Aztecs, markets, 97, 147. 



Aztecs, banquets, social amusements, 
Aztian, 56. 

B. 

Bacon, Roger, 18. 
Bahamas, 41. 
Balboa, 9, 50., 52, 164, 168. 
Balboa scheme — adopted by Pizarro, 
186. 

Balboa hears of the Land of Gold, 
165. 

Balboa crosses the isthmus, 166, 167. 
Balboa unjustly treated, 167, 168. 
Barcelona, Columbus honored at 

Court, 45. 
Basque Discovery, 32. 
Boston in Vinland, 26, 182. 
Brandan, St. discoverer, 32. 
Brito, ship-canal, 172. 
Buccaneers, origin, etc., 169, 170. 
Buffon, 15. 

Burgos, Bishop of, 157, 168, 



Cabot, 38, 48, 49. 
Cabrera reaches Brazil, 49. 
Cakama, prince of Tezcuco, 154. 
Calendar Stone, 83, 84. 
Calicut reached by Gama, 49^ 
Canaanites, etc.,' sun-worship, 10a, 
103. 

Cannibalism, 102, 103. 
Capac, Inca, 182, 187. 
Carthage, 17, 102. 
Cathay, 39, 43, 45. 
Cazique, 43, 117, etc. 
Celtic discoveries, 19, 30—32. 
Chalco, Lake, 136, 137. 

191 



192 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



Charles V. and Cortes, 164. 

Chiapas. 77. 

Chibchas, 85. 

Cholula, 84, 94, 130, 133. 

Civilization, Extinct, chaps, iii, ix. 

Civilization, Celtic, 19. 

Civilization, Norse, 19-25, 27-31. 

Civilization, Aztec, etc., 54-70, 82, 83. 

Civilization. Peru, 172-185. 

Colon {see Columbus); also an Atlan- 
tic port on the isthmus of Darien, 
172. 

Columbia, 76, 85. 

Columbus, 17-18, 37, 38-46, 157. 

Columbus, early failures, 39. 

Columbus, voyage to Iceland, 39. 

Columbus, variation of the compass, 
41, 42, 49. 

Columbus, discovers Bahamas, Cuba, 
Hayti, 42-44. 

Columbus, discovers Trinidad and 
Orinoco, 45. 

Columbus, map by (found in 1894), 42. 

Columbus, autograph (cut) and epi- 
taph, 46. 

Columbus, Ferdinand, 18 ; Bartholo- 
mew, 43. 

Columbus, Diego. 47, 157. 

Continent, supposed southern (cut), 
12. 

Continent, Western, 13 {see Atlantis, 

Hesperides). 
Condor, emblem of prehistoric Inca, 

!73i J 75 (cuts). 
Copan, 79-81. 

Cordova lands on Yucatan, 53. 
Cortes appointed leader, 53, 64, 77, 80. 
Cortes at Cuba and Hayti, 117. 
Cortes at Yucatan, 109. 
Cortes and Teuhtile, in, 112. 
Cortes, generalship. 119, 124, 126, 159. 
Cortes, resource, 127, 128, 158. 
Cortes, cruelty, 129, 132, 153. 
Cortes at Popocatepetl, 133. 
Cortes and Montezuma, 141, 143-143. 
Cortes lack of delicacy, 152. 
Cortes, arrest of Montezuma, 152-157. 
Cortes, personal courage, 162. 
Cortes, retreat, "Night of Sorrows," 
163. 

Cortes, Mexico retaken and its em- 
peror hanged, 164. 
Cortes and Charles V., 164. 
Cliff-houses, 86. 

Cotton, Az. tec, preparation of, 84, 
96. 

Cromwell, his influence, 170. 

Cruz, Vera, no, 114, 120, 156, 157, 163. 



1 Cuba, 43-45, 51-53, 84. 
i Culhua, 110. 

I Cuzco, 174. 176, 181, 183, 188. 

: Cuzco, Cyclopean remains, 181, 183. 

i Cuzco, temple, 183. 

I Cyclopean ruins in Peru, 173, 178, 181- 

183- 

Cyclopean ruins in Peru (cuts), 173, 

: i75- 



Dalrymple, Sir John, 169, 170. 

Dampier, buccaneer, 170. 
' Darien, taken by Balboa, 169. 

Darien, Scottish Expedition, 169. 

Darien, causes of failure, 169, 170, 

Darien, crossed by Morgan, 170, 171. 

Darien, crossed by Dampier, 171. 

Diaz, navigator, rounds the Cape of 
Good Hope and names it the 
" Stormy Cape," 49. 
1 Diaz, historian, quoted, 148, 151, 158, 
I 160. 

Dighton Stone, 28 (cuts, 27, 28). 
Diodorus Siculus, 16. 
; Druid Sacrifices, 106. 
"Druidic," 74, 177, 178. 



E. 

I Edward VI and Cabot, 48. 

Elysian Fields, 13, 14, 16. 

Erik the Red, 20. 
1 Escobar, 162. 

Euripides, quoted, 14. 



F. 

Feather-work, 84, 06. 
Ferdinand and Isabella, 40, 41* 
Feudalism ended, 36. 



G. 

Gama, De, 38, 58. 
Gardens, 138, 139. 
Glazier, Theory, 73-74. 
Gladstone quoted, 189. 
Gosnold's Expedition, 25, 26. 
Greenland, 19-25, 30, 31. 
Grijalva and Yucatan, 10, 53. 
Guatemala, 58. 76, 79. 
Guatimozin, 163. 
Gunnbiorn, 20. 



INDEX 



193 



H. 

Hannibal on the Alps, 134, 135. 
Harold Fair-hair, 20. 
Hatuey, 51, 52. 
Hayti, 43, 98. 

Helluland (Newfoundland), aa. 
Henry VII., 48, 49. 
Hercules' Pillars, 13, 17. 
Herodotus, 10, 11. 
Hesiod, quoted, 13. 
Hesperides, Isles of the Blest, 14. 
Homer, quoted, 10, 13. 
Honduras, 76, 79. 

Huitzilopochtli, god of battles, 93, 94, 

150, 151 (see Mexitl.) 
Humboldt, 35, 50, 65, 73, 83, 94. 



I. 

Iceland, 19, 20. 

Incas, 172, 182 (see Peru). 

''Indian,'' as a term applied to the 
New World by mistake, a blunder 
still perpetuated, 42 (cf. 98. 

Indians, "Red-skins," 72-74, 80, 90. 

Ingolf, 19. 

Iphigenia, 104. 

Ireland, Mickle, 20, 31, 32. 

Italian Discovery, 34-36. 

Itztli (obsidian), used as a sharp flint, 
95- 

Iztapalapan, 138. 



J- 

AMAICA, 170. 

ewish "Discovery," 33. 
uan, S., ship-canal, 17a 



K. 

Katortuk (Greenland), 21, 22 (cut, 
21). 

Kingsborough, Lord, 34, 69, 82. 



L. 

Leif Erikson, 21-23. 
Lesseps de, 171-173. 
Loadstone, 41, 42. 
Longfellow, quoted, 29. 
Lucian, quoted, 17. 

13 



M. 

Madoc, 32, 33, 70. 

Magellan reaches the Pacific Ocean 
and names it, 49 ; killed at Matan, 
50. 

Magnetic Pole, 41. 

Maguey plant, its singular value, 94. 

Major, Mr., on Pre-Columbian discov- 
eries of America, and site of the 
Greenland colonies, 35, 36. 

Malte Brun, 35. 

Marina, "slave-interpreter," 109, 115, 
128, 131. 

Markham, Sir C., quoted, 30, 174, 179, 

183. 

Markland (Nova Scotia), 22. 
Marvels, Age of, 38, 39. 
Maya, Mayapan, 76, 79. 
Maya, MS., 81, 82. 
Maya, trade, 84. 
Mayflower lands in Vinland, 26. 
Medea, 18, 104. 
Merida, 78. 

Mexico, Mexicans (see also Aztecs). 
Mexico, archeology, 72-86. 
Mexico, geography, 89, 90, 133-135. 
Mexico, valley, 134, 135. 
Mexico, town, 139, 142, 145-151. 
Mexico, wealth, 155. 
Mexico, siege, 160-164. 
Mexico, ferocity in war, 160-164. 
Mexitl. the god of battles, another 

name for Huitzilopochtli, 93. 
Monolith (cuts), 173, 175. 
Montezuma I., 57. 
Montezuma, 110-113. 
Montezuma, meaning of name, 113. 
Montezuma, power. 120, 121, 135, 141. 
Montezuma, affability, 144. 
Montezuma, dress, etc., 161. 
Montezuma, death, 162. 
Montgomery, James, 20, 22, 23. 
Morgan, buccaneer, 170. 
Mound builders, 31, 71, 85. 
Miiller, Max, quoted, 56. 



N. 



Narvaez, 158, 159. 
Nicaragua, ship-canal, 58, 172. 
Norse Discovery, 19-32. 
Norse towns in Greenland, 20. 
Norumbega, 25. 



1 



194 EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST 



0. 

Ocean, Western, 12, 16, 17. 

Ocean, Southern, first name for the 

Atlantic (qTv.) 
Oceanus, river, 10. 
Ogygia, 16. 

Ollantay, Peru. 174, 176, 
Orinoco, discovered, 45. 
Orizaba, 120. 
Overland Route, 37. 

P. 

Pacific, first seen, 16V 
Pacific, first sailed upon, 5a 
Palenque, 77, 79, 81. 
Palos, 41, 45. 
Panama, 166, 171, 172. 
Panama, modern, 171. 
Paper (prehistoric) of Mexico, 82. 
Pedrarias, 167, 168. 
Peru and Incas, chaps, ix., x. 
Peru agriculture, 182, 185. 
Peru aqueducts, roads, etc., 177. 
Peru archeology, 172-182. 
Peru architecture, 87, 172-178. 
Peru calendar, 184, 185. 
Peru chulpas, 87 (cut). 
Peru quipu, 180 (cut). 
Peru sculpture and pottery, 178. 
Peru history and religion, 182. 
Phenicians, 11, 17. 
Pictograph, 80, 112. 
Pindar, quoted, 13. 
Pizarro, 164, 167. 
Pizarro and Atahualpha, 187, 188. 
Pizarro and Peru, 186-189. 
Pizarro, first and second voyages, 186, 
187. 

Pizarro imitated Balboa, 165, 186. 

Pizarro invades Peru, 187. 

Pizarro, his treacherv and cruelty, 188, 

189. 

Pizarro at Cusco, 188. 
Pizarro founds Lima, 188. 
Pizarro, " Doom " at last, 189. 
Plato, 14, 15. 
Plutarch, 16. 
Polo, Marco, 39, 43. 
Polyxena, 104. 
Popocatepetl, 133, 134. 
Ptolemy, 11, 39, 
Pythagorean theory, 10. 

Q. 

QuETZALCOATL, 84, 93, 94, III, XI3, 

130, 152. 
Quipu, 180, 181 (cut, 180). 



R. 

Rafn, 28, 29, 31. 

Raymi, Peruvian festival, 184, 185. 
I Renascence, 9, 36, 37. 
j Renascence influence on travel and 
exploration, 38. 
Renascence assisted the Reformation, 
37- 

Runes in Greenland, 27, 28, 



Sebastian, Magellan's Basque lieu- 
tenant, 33, 50. 
Seneca, 18, 19 (tide-page). 
" Scraelings," Vinland, 23. 
" Skeleton in Armor," 29. 
Spain, how consolidated, 37, 106. 
Spain, close of its colonial history, 52. 
Squier, quoted, 176, 181. 



T. 

Tambos, Peru, 185. 
Tehuantepec, isthmus, 171. 
Tenochtitlan, Mexico, 57. 
Teocalli, 106, 117, 148-151, 156 (cut. 
105)- , 

Tezcatlipoca, god of youth, 61. 

Tezcuco, eastern capital, Mexico, 56c 

Tezcuco, 56, 57, 136. 

Tezcuco, king of, 100. 
1 Tezcuco, lake, 139-140. 

Thorfinn, 23. 
I Thorwaldsen, 23. 

Titicaca, lake, 71, 182. 

Titicaca (see Cyclopean ruins), 174, 
175- 

Tlaloc, god of rain, 63. 

Tlascala, 113, 121-127, 130, 153, 159, 

163. 

Tlascala, people, and siege, 130, 133. 
Toltecs, 56, 71. 
I Totonacs, 115. 
Trinidad, 45. 
Tula, 56. 

Tumbez, Peru, 186. _ 

Turks, causing civilization, 36, 38. 



u. 

Utatla, 79. 

Uxmal, 55, 76 (frontispiece). 



JAN £81949 



INDEX 



195 



V. 

Valladolid, 46. 

Velasquez, 51-53, 107, 108, 158. 

Vesper, 14 {see Hesperides). 

Vespucci, 49, 51, 52. 

Vinland (New England), 23, 25. 

Vinland, map of, 24. 

Voltaire, story of Cortes, 164. 



W. 

Waldsee.muller, 50. 
Watling's Island, 42. 
Welsh Discovery, 32, 33. 
William III. and Darien Scheme, 168- 
169. 

Wilson, " Prehistoric Man," 26, 81. 
World, shape of, 9-1 1. 



X. 

Xalapa, 120. 

Xicotencatl, Tlascalan, 124, 126, 127- 

130. 

Xicotencatl appearance, 129. 

Y. 

Yochicalco, 86. 
Yucatan, 53, 54, 75-77. 

Z. 

Zempoalla, " conversion of," 116. 

Zempoalla, 119, 158, 159. 

Zeni, Italian brothers, 34-35. 

Zeno map, 34, 35. 

Zipango (Japan). 39, 45. 

Zodiac, comparative, 55. 

Zodiac (cut; from a tomb at Cusco, 182 




- f f<<* 



J?' 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
<; Treatment Date: March 2010 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 

*0 1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 



4 % s % -,. ^ 



Z 



A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVi 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 
(724) 779-2111 



Township, 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



, Ill 

0 024 372 005 9 



